Chapter 8. Managing Code

Working on a software project that involves more than one person is tough. Everything slows down and gets harder. This happens for several reasons. This chapter will expose these reasons and will try to provide some ways to fight against them.

This chapter is divided into two parts, which explain:

• How to work with a version control system

• How to set up continuous development processes

First of all, a code base evolves so much that it is important to track all the changes that are made, even more so when many developers work on it. That is the role of a version control system.

Next, several brains that are not directly wired together can still work on the same project. They have different roles and work on different aspects. Therefore, a lack of global visibility generates a lot of confusion about what is going on and what is being done by others. This is unavoidable, and some tools have to be used to provide continuous visibility and mitigate the problem. This is done...