Version control is a system that records changes to a file or set of files over time so that you can recall specific versions later. It allows you to revert selected files back to a previous state, revert the entire project back to a previous state, compare changes over time, see who last modified something that might be causing a problem, who introduced an issue and when, and more.
Using a version control software like Git generally means that if you screw things up or lose files, you can easily recover. In addition, you get all this for very little overhead.
- Bryan, J. (2017). Excuse me, do you have a moment to talk about version control? PeerJ Preprints.
- Getting Started - About Version Control. Git documentation.