Code Versioning With Git

SSIS packages are just XML files. There is no reason you cannot manage them with Git. However, CIOs have a habit of going all in on Microsoft and prefer that their teams use Team Foundation Server (TFS) for versioning your code.

Technically, you could manage your Python and T-SQL using TFS.

Technically, trepanning was a valid medical procedure for exercising demons. Technically.

TFS is that old and busted. Git is the new hotness.

I do not use the new hotness just because it is cool or because it is the versioning tool of choice for modern software development. I use it because, unlike TFS, its really simple, fast, and it works.

Git says goodbye to the outdated concept of checking files in and out. With the distributed model, it is possible to have several people working on the same file at the same time as long as they are not working on the exact same code block.

Imagine a world where you have several people working simultaneously on different methods of a class. Imagine a world where you do not have to lean over to your coworker and utter the words for the millionth time that day, “hey, can you check that file in?”. Imagine a world where TFS does not just fall over and you have to spend the entire afternoon trying to recover your code base.

With Git, that is the world I now live in and it is fantastic. Having Git in my workflow, even working solo on a project has significantly reduced development time for me. The time savings comes from not wrestling with (and losing to) TFS. I get all that time back AND my code is robustly stored in more than one location and I can easily move back and forth between different versions of my code base with the click of a button. Life does not get any better than this.