I finally sat down and started playing with Subversion this morning… it is like CVS for idiots/on steroids. (better description below) Seriously it make version control much easier to tackle and comes with some great documentation and even a free book! What makes the deal even sweeter is that it integrates directly into Windows Explorer. Any serious developer should be running this.

The dummy explanation:
Subversion allows you to keep track of changes you make to any sorts of files - whether they be graphics, code whatever. It’s geared toward coders but will track changes on everything. You start a project by creating a repository and then importing your files and you’re then at revision 1. Next you check out your project into a new directory and begin work. Once you’re done you commit your changes. Subversion will check the repository to see if anyone else has been working and then attempt to smartly merge all the changes. If it runs across a change it cannot merge it will ask your advice on the matter. Pretty slick.

Now the fun part… what if you totally screw something up in your code? Just roll back to a revision where it was working. No problems - Subversion keeps a complete history of each revision as well as what was changed and any notes you may have. Pretty dang slick if you ask me.