>>As a student of collaboration, and a long time user of revision control in >>code and in documents, I am a big fan, but also share the author's curiosity >>as to "what is next?".
I know git has a model for cloning, pushing and pulling from other clones, but does it have a feature for aggregating sub-components from many foreign repositories into a single code base? (I've only used git lightly, so if I'm repeating features let me know.) It would be neat to just pull the quarter of a library you need, and have it linked to the main source with change notification. It'd also be a neat feature to have auto compare tools so you can see how anyone replicating your repository is using/changing your code without manually comparing or waiting for a pull request. I would suggesting creating a Version System/Social Coding wishlist to determine what might be next. It seems most of the other advances stemmed one of those. **************************** Greg Sonnenfeld On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 12:14 PM, Steve Smith <sasm...@swcp.com> wrote: > Quite a walk down memory lane. Thanks Tom. > > My own memory involves paper tape and card decks as the persistent source > with text files being ephemeral in the early days. It was much harder to > keep variants in this form, but much easier to remember which version was > the correct one. I'm sure others kept their main deck of a program with > small batches of variations carefully managed with notes and rubber bands. > > It was excruciatingly challenging in some ways to collaborate with others in > this mode... though it was higher fidelity to sit down with a printout of a > program and go through the logic line by line with a colleague than to wait > for them to try to merge their code with yours from a revision control > system and for them then to ask you oblique questions via e-mail about their > (nearly) orthogonal changes relative to yours. The former was less > "efficient" but required more reflection on the motivation of specific > changes and/or choices in coding style and algorithmic design. > > As a student of collaboration, and a long time user of revision control in > code and in documents, I am a big fan, but also share the author's curiosity > as to "what is next?". I've used visual programming languages and even > dabbled with evolutionary programming, but don't see a clear next step. It > feels as if we might be on the blind side of a phase transition, not so much > in version control as in collaborative or collective problem solving, > facilitated by algorithmic languages and version control systems. > > A biological (genetic, regulatory network) metaphor seems apt for this next > phase? > > - Steve > >> I suspect some of us will be interested in this brief history of version >> control. >> >> http://www.flourish.org/blog/?p=397 >> >> --tj > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
