Recently I was appointed as responsible for a big project that lead me in writing more complex software than just small scripts. It is still nothing big (few tens of functions, each with 50-200 lines of code), but it is for sure bigger than before and bigger than I was used to.
This code is constantly updated and must be shared with collegues. I also develop on two different machines (the office Windows desktop and my WFH setup composed by a MacBook).
Is Git the only way to go to mantain the code? The problem that I have with Git are these: 1. It is not easy to learn. I have no problem in learning it, but older academics are not willing to put the effort... 2. Sync between my two machines is not always easy, fur sure not as easy as Dropbox.
Is Git the only way to go? If yes, do you have some websites where it is well explained and easy to understand?
Thanks!
Pretty much. You could try leaving it in Dropbox, but the nature of codebases is such that a solution like this could result in unnecessary bandwidth/storage use, lost/corrupted data, catastrophe when you need to roll-back a version, or worse. Suffice to say, you'd quickly learn why we use VCS over bog-standard syncing.
Yes, git looks scary. But you don't need a whole lot to get started. Learn the basics: start with cloning, then learning to commit, then learn how to push, pull, and you should be set with the basics. There are other relatively important things you'll need to learn (like rebase and diff), but you can cross that bridge when you come to it. If you ever want to learn more about a function of git, many of the commands have manpages. On any Unix machine, you can type 'man git $COMMAND` and it will give you a detailed explanation of how that particular function works.
> 1. It is not easy to learn.
Learning the basics really isn't that hard, especially if you're the only one writing code. It's true that branching and merging require a bit more intellectual investment but depending on exactly what you're doing you can go quite far without that.
> I have no problem in learning it, but older academics are not willing to put the effort...
Why would they even need to if all the development is done by you ? If they need to make code changes you could have them send you their code and then merge their changes into the repository yourself.
> 2. Sync between my two machines is not always easy, fur sure not as easy as Dropbox.
That's what git servers like github and gitlab are for. You should really be using one, whether it's on an internal server (which would require quite a bit of effort to set up) or a provider such as github. Have you considered creating a private github account for this ?
Are you the only person modifying the code? Or do your colleagues modify it, too?
If the latter, distributed version control is why git was created.
Git isn’t the only way — certainly distributed projects existed before it. But you’re going to need to use version control and I don’t think you’re going to have an easier time convincing or teaching hesitant colleagues mercurial or svn instead.
For reference, I am also a (non-software) engineer working with code. We have an internal GitLab instance. There were definitely growing pains getting folks to use it. But it’s certainly been better than asking Joe for his version of this code and Bill for his version of that code and getting them to play nicely together. It helps to have your leadership on board. So a department chair in your case, perhaps?