John Blischak Cite Best Practices paper.  about 9 years ago

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In this quick guide, we introduce you to one version control system (VCS), Git (\href{http://git-scm.com/}{git-scm.com}), and one online hosting site, GitHub (\href{https://github.com}{github.com}), both of which are currently popular among scientists and programmers in general.  More importantly, we hope to convince you that although mastering a given VCS takes time, you can already achieve great benefits by getting started using a few simple commands.  Furthermore, not only does using a VCS solve many common problems when writing code, it can also improve the scientific process.  By tracking your code development with a VCS and hosting it online, you are performing science that is more transparent, reproducible, and open to collaboration \cite{23448176}. \cite{23448176, 24415924}.  There is no reason this framework needs to be limited only to code; a VCS is well-suited for tracking any plain-text files: manuscripts, electronic lab notebooks, protocols, etc.