When I was a toddler, like many other little boys, I grew very attached to a particular blanket, and insisted it join me just about everywhere I went. It was, of course a phase (unlike many adults, I don't still have the darn thing). But I've recently felt myself similarly exposed, this time when working without a particular tool: version control.

I'm not saying that I am as enamored of this particular technology as I was that square of cloth; just that when I find myself without it, I get anxious and worried, like something very important is missing.

I just started putting together a few slides for the opening remarks for tomorrow's TOC conference, and I'd barely gotten the first few slides sketched out when I felt a nagging sensation like I was driving without a seatbelt. (Or toddling without a security blanket for that matter.)

In reality, I hardly ever need to revert to an old version of a document. But having an infinite history of a project means the ability to work without the fear of irreversible catastrophe.

While I'm not ready to take things quite as far as some do in putting their electronic lives in version control, these days I rarely work on any document or project of significance without checking it into Subversion. The latest version of the Macintosh operating system actually includes a similar feature baked right in, so you get that same infinite history for free with the OS.

For now, I'm going to stick with Subversion, in part because I'm still running Windows, but also because SVN lets me access my files from anywhere. Sure beats a blanket...

Labels: tech

¶ 3:34 PM