Version control with SVN allows teams to safely and efficiently edit shared documents. It tracks who made changes to documents and when. While mostly used for code, version control concepts apply to any shared text files. The course will discuss an imaginary scenario where a research lab needs a better system than email to write a paper with contributions from multiple universities to demonstrate why version control is needed.

1. Version control with SVN
Setting the stage for the course

2. Approach
Even though version control is mostly used for software develop-
ment projects (code), the concepts are applicable to any set of text
files that are being shared and worked on by a team.

3. Let's first discuss an imaginary motivation which will set the stage of
why our team needs version control

4. Motivating questions
How can my colleagues and I edit shared documents safely and effi-
ciently?
How can I keep track of who made what changes to a document, and
when, safely and reliably?
What are the limitations of version control systems, and what are the
alternatives?

5. Problem: Writing a Paper With Several Other People
Your lab has been working with groups at two other universities to
analyze anomalies in the trajectories of deep space probes, and the
time has come to write a paper summarizing your findings. The
last one produced by this collaboration was 35 pages long, and had
15 authors, 20 figures, and 400 references. It took six weeks to
write, half of which was spent tracking down and reconciling bits
and pieces that had gone astray in email or been overwritten acci-
dentally. Everyone would like to find a less painful way to get this
one written; since you weren’t able to attend the organizational
meeting, you’ve been put in charge of figuring out how.

6. Now it's time to begin the course