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Issue 066: Version Control

Welcome to the sixty-sixth issue of De Programmatica Ipsum, about Version Control. In this edition, we analyze the rise in popularity of Git and how it eclipsed everything else; in the Library section, we review "Pragmatic Version Control Using Git" by Travis Swicegood; and in our Vidéothèque section, we watch Linus Torvalds explaining Git in a 2007 Google TechTalk.

Twenty Years Is Nothing

In a previous edition of this magazine, we argued that English was so pervasive in our industry, nobody even questioned its use anymore. The same can be said of Git. It is difficult to imagine that merely twenty years ago, the landscape of source control tools was more diverse, and the choice of one such tool was much more complicated than today. Actually, Git was not even on the map yet. Before debating whether the hegemony of Git is good or bad, let us go back in time for a little while.

Linus Torvalds

The tech industry is a fertile ground for anecdotes starred by individuals qualifying as brilliant jerks, psychopaths, and other atrocious types of personality. Suffice to say that, from the height of their positions of supposed leadership, many chose the easy path of advancing a twisted agenda that feeds into their hubris, in the detriment of the wider advancement of society.

Travis Swicegood

A quick review of previous entries in the Library section of this magazine shows that it does not feature any book from The Pragmatic Programmers, for no other reason than gross oversight. We have discussed books from MIT Press, Addison-Wesley, O'Reilly, and many other publishing houses, and now it is time to solve this issue. This month we will elaborate on "Pragmatic Version Control Using Git", a 2008 book by Travis Swicegood.

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