Pragmatic Version Control Using CVS

Rating:
Summary: be the CVS Zen master
Review: (The following is an excerpt of a review of "The Pragmatic Starter Kit" I posted at JavaRanch.)

Authors, David Thomas and Andrew Hunt, smashed a home run with their book, "Pragmatic Version Control Using CVS" - the first volume in the three part "The Pragmatic Starter Kit" series. Using easy to read explanations, examples and stories, this book clearly explains what version control is, how it works, why folks are using it, how CVS works, and what commands developers are using during the life of their projects. "Pragmatic Version Control Using CVS" provides the semantics and idioms behind the syntax found in the CVS Manual. Before reading this book, I was a timid CVS user, willing to do little more than check code out. Now, after reading the book, I check code out and in, branch, merge and resolve conflicts with confidence. I'd recommend this book to any developer using a version control system that wouldn't already describe themselves as Zen masters in the craft, and to any developer not already using a version control system.


Rating:
Summary: The idioms you need; not just doc you find elsewhere
Review: Hunt and Thomas, "The Pragmatic Programmers", provide a delightfully brief user's guide for the Concurrent Version System (CVS). They focus on idiomatic usage patterns, leading the way from installing CVS and creating a first project to branching for releases and developer sandboxes. They provide practical advice on when to branch, how to comment, what constitutes a project, and even what to check into CVS in the first place. I've been using CVS for years, and learned a lot here; especially about the various kinds of diff reporting and configuration options.

Almost everyone is confused by CVS first. Almost everyone who gets over the learning curve swears by it (or some variant). The main adoption hurdle is the unix-style documentation that provides telegraphic explanations of commands in insider jargon. Hunt and Thomas explain what it all means, and more importantly, how to use it, and why to use it. Complex relationships like merge conflicts are illustrated with clear diagrams and sensible easy-to-follow examples. Even though I see myself using this book quite a bit, I could've used it even more when I was getting started, before CVS became second nature.

Rating:
Summary: The idioms you need; not just doc you find elsewhere
Review: Hunt and Thomas, "The Pragmatic Programmers", provide a delightfully brief user's guide for the Concurrent Version System (CVS). They focus on idiomatic usage patterns, leading the way from installing CVS and creating a first project to branching for releases and developer sandboxes. They provide practical advice on when to branch, how to comment, what constitutes a project, and even what to check into CVS in the first place. I've been using CVS for years, and learned a lot here; especially about the various kinds of diff reporting and configuration options.

Almost everyone is confused by CVS first. Almost everyone who gets over the learning curve swears by it (or some variant). The main adoption hurdle is the unix-style documentation that provides telegraphic explanations of commands in insider jargon. Hunt and Thomas explain what it all means, and more importantly, how to use it, and why to use it. Complex relationships like merge conflicts are illustrated with clear diagrams and sensible easy-to-follow examples. Even though I see myself using this book quite a bit, I could've used it even more when I was getting started, before CVS became second nature.

Rating:
Summary: A Reviewer Who is NOT a Member of the Author's Poker Pals
Review: Not sure what I'm missing. These books are thin in more than the physical way. This one has a few decent ideas. Actually, my big beefs with this book are:

1. Most of this information is just freely available. Look at this as a search prevention mechanism.

2. If you use a tool with great CVS support (like Eclipse 3), literally 2/3 of the book is completely superfluous.

3. If you don't use a tool w/great support, get that for free, not this, you'll end up much farther down the road.

Why not put ideas into a book like this? For instance, Vincent Massol's recent article about automating a process of publishing diffs to keep people up to date. Or looking at some of the many interesting OS addons like CVSList. This is literally just one more book that sells you something you already have ready access to.