Ask HN: Learn Subversion or Git?

#1

Post by joeschindel » Tue, Jul 31, 2012, 6:07 PM UTC

I am trying to convince a professor to teach one of these technologies in a sophomore level programming course at my university.

What are the benefits of learning a VCS early? Between Subversion and Git which would be best for students to learn?

Re: Ask HN: Learn Subversion or Git?

#2

Post by drKarl » Tue, Jul 31, 2012, 6:10 PM UTC

In 2012, the question should be Git or Mercurial?

Re: Ask HN: Learn Subversion or Git?

#3

Post by joeschindel » Tue, Jul 31, 2012, 6:12 PM UTC

drKarl wrote: post #2

In 2012, the question should be Git or Mercurial?

I am not familiar with Mercurial. Would it benefit students to learn it over Git?

Re: Ask HN: Learn Subversion or Git?

#4

Post by amykhar » Tue, Jul 31, 2012, 6:20 PM UTC

I would start with Git because so many open source projects are on Github. But, I would also learn the basics of Mercurial and Subversion.

Re: Ask HN: Learn Subversion or Git?

#5

Post by drobati » Tue, Jul 31, 2012, 6:26 PM UTC

Git would be cool to play in a distributive way between the students.

Re: Ask HN: Learn Subversion or Git?

#6

Post by jvc26 » Tue, Jul 31, 2012, 6:37 PM UTC

Git. Don't bother with subversion.

Re: Ask HN: Learn Subversion or Git?

#7

Post by ColinWright » Tue, Jul 31, 2012, 6:42 PM UTC

Absolutely they should learn a VCS early. Personally, I would recommend Git over Mercurial, with svn a very distant third.

But mostly you'll get people trotting out their prejudices here. The main deal, without question, is to do something.

Re: Ask HN: Learn Subversion or Git?

#8

Post by drKarl » Tue, Jul 31, 2012, 7:37 PM UTC

joeschindel wrote: post #3

drKarl wrote: post #2

In 2012, the question should be Git or Mercurial?

I am not familiar with Mercurial. Would it benefit students to learn it over Git?

Well, Git or Mercurial are equally powerful and both are DVCS (Distributed) which SVN is not. If anything, mercurial is said to be easier to learn if you already know SVN, but both are similar. Git use UNIX philosophy of many complementing tools whereas Mercurial uses a monolithic approach, a single unified powerful tool.

Re: Ask HN: Learn Subversion or Git?

#9

Post by rrmm » Tue, Jul 31, 2012, 7:50 PM UTC

I think it's hugely important to learn how to interact with VCS for software development. It makes backing up easier, it makes debugging easier, it makes releasing software easier. It is a necessary skill in the professional world.

Currently, it's also the way software developers talk to each other. Even if students don't come away intimately knowing a VCS, they should be aware they are out there, and the common usage patterns they enable.

It would be useful for the course to give a little background in VCS and DVCS concepts and then an introduction to the major types. From there both subversion and git/hg could be used hands on to practice the concepts.

The developer world seems to be leaning towards git, so perhaps spend the most time there. But again, the basic concepts and workflows should be stressed no matter what, because tools come and go.

Re: Ask HN: Learn Subversion or Git?

#10

Post by usea » Wed, Aug 01, 2012, 12:19 AM UTC

At my university, most of the upper-level classes had some kind of group programming project component. We were required to use SVN, although no formal instruction in its use was given. You were expected to figure it out on your own or communicate with other students who knew how to use it already. (This was an ongoing theme in the curriculum.)

The approach worked very well. From an instructor's point of view, you can see who is (and who is not) contributing to a project if you have access to the repositories.

Personally I don't care for Subversion, but it might be easier to grasp for a first-timer.