It's challenging to work in an IT department for a non IT company when there's no proper software development process. "Best practices" would be listed as a low priority item in the list.
The first thing that I would look for before I start coding is a source control. Without it, we're in a risk of loosing the code or spending more time to undo changes that we did which had caused the application to broke.
Since it's a non IT company, requesting budget for software purchase might not take you to the smooth path journey. So, with only 3 options I have in hand and mind which is:
1) Visual SourceSafe 6.0d - unreliable and an obsolete product
2) Perforce - love it, unfortunately the license fee is damn expensive
3) Subversion - it's free but never use it, learning curve needed
Since Subversion is the only option left for me, did some googling and I was overwhelmed with the information. There are so many tools can be use to work with Subversion. To make my life easier, I've listed the best free 4 (at least for me) tools.
VisualSVN Server Standard Edition
Server side tool which is available freely for commercial use. Check out the difference between Standard and Enterprise editions here.
TortoiseSVN
A windows shell extension for Subversion. It is not integrated to any specific IDE and can be use with whatever development tools you like.
AnkhSVN
A Subversion Source Control Provider for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, 2008 and 2010.
SVNMonitor
A tool to monitor changes made to the repository.
Update (27/07/2010)
I've tried SVNMonitor and it's a great tool for monitoring changes made to the repository. Unfortunately all the svn action will be disable if you monitor the source via URL.
First, congratulations on your career advancement!
ReplyDeleteI prefer RapidSVN over TortoiseSVN, because I don't like shell extensions. Have been using it for over a year without any problems.
Next step: continuous integration. If you don't have a big budget, GojiSoft recommends Team City.
Cool, thanks for the info...
ReplyDelete