Version control

Many of us have worked on projects where we want to keep a copy of something "just in case." This can be homework from school, a project document for work, or, if you're particularly organized, some planning notes for something at home. Often, when we make a lot of changes, we end up with copies of the file with different names that may make sense at the time but quickly get out of control:

myplan.txt
myplan.original.txt
myplan.before_feedback.txt
myplan.final.reviewed.final2.suggestions.txt

This situation gets even more chaotic when multiple people are working on a project. This is where version control really shines. Using a Version Control System (VCS) means that each project is kept as a repository of all its files, and every change you commit is kept forever, unless you work really hard to remove it from the repository's history. Accidentally deleted an important paragraph or a useful bit of Python code? It will be in the version control...