Thoughts on Source Control

My company is interviewing canidates for a junior programming position to support various legacy projects. I interviewed a canidate today and one of the questions I asked the individual was what kind of source control system that he uses at his current position. Now before I continue, this individual was intelligent and is a good canidate for what we are looking for as a prospect for employment. The answer he gave however is sadly the norm in the contracting world, his comapny does not use source control.

My company uses CVS as it’s source control mechanism. I can’t imagine a world without being able to grab my source at any hour of the day, working anywhere, branching specific versions for different functionality. That sweet feeling of checking-in and the integration build server sending me a confirmation that the source is good and I didn’t break the build. Imagining a world without this is now unimaginable. However there are companies that operate like this on a day to day basis.

Programmers by default tend to focus on languages and frameworks. They don’t tend to focus on good configuration management practices. Is this the programmers fault? Yes and No. For the junior programmer he/she has just not been introduced to good practices and processes. There are many companies in the contracting world, especially in the government sector, that the programmer may be the only technical person employed. He/She may never get exposed to CM practices unless that individual has the motivation to pursue his/her craft and read and implement current industry standards.

However, if you are a senior programmer with 5+ years in the developement arena and aren’t using Unit Tests, Source Control, and continuous integration then you may have to take a step back and do a self assesment. These just aren’t buzzwords, they are a neccessity and a tool every programmer should have in his or her toolbox.