In the software development world, there's this neat thing called "source control."  The unfamiliar may think it has to do with news organizations and their informants -- maybe, but thankfully we're not a news organization...

To us, source control (aka "version control") is simply the practice of keeping all files related to a web site or application project in a system that tracks changes to those files.  The source control system we use, VisualSVN Server (a packaged Windows version of the popular, open-source Subversion), is a robust, industry-standard solution that boasts all the important features a source control system should have, plus way more:

• Each change to a file is remembered forever, enabling you to go back to a previous version, or even compare what changed between versions
• Code can be merged easily, meaning multiple software developers can make changes to any given file at the same time
• Alternatively, files can be "locked" so others know they are being updated by someone else
• Changes to files are tracked by date and by person as well, so it's easy to know who updated the file, and when
• Changes can be grouped together across multiple files, allowing more in-depth "feature" tracking
• Even file and folder renames and moves are tracked
• Projects can be organized in a logical way, utilizing "repositories" and a hierarchical structure
• Branching allows work on two separate copies of any project to take place in parallel, then be merged back together easily
• Tagging facilitates the taking of "snapshots" of a project -- especially helpful when you release versions of a project
• ... and much more!

Source control enables us to keep a structured but flexible view of our solutions.  Tracking the source code from version to version helps the development team work in parallel on the same project without worrying about overlaps, troubleshoot issues if they arise by looking back at change history, and keep a central, complete library of our customer solutions in one place.  And, of course, in addition to source control, we employ regular backup practices to ensure all of our solutions are safe.

Stay tuned in the coming months for more blog entries highlighting Amplify Studios' best practices.  We love what we do, and we're serious about doing the best job we can for our customers -- not only from the outside, but the inside as well.