Github, bitbucket etc.

[xee]

Does anyone use such sites?  From what I gather they're basically sites you post your code to and allow others to view, make changes, suggestions etc. to your code?  Are there downsides to using such sites or is it better to just slap your stuff onto your own blog site and call it a day?    Thanks for any info!

[XLambda]

Well, several projects use google code. libtcod uses bitbucket afaik.

They're basically a free repository with a web interface. There's either a hg or svn repo behind it that does version control. It especially makes it easy to work with a team, as you need a server to put your repo on, so the other team members can access it. And servers aren't cheap.

In my opinion, they're only useful if you want other people to have access to the source code and possibly help you with it. (Others can't change the code if you haven't invited them.) If you want to be the only one working with the source code, they offer very little a blog/site and a private repo on your HDD doesn't.

[XLambda]

stupid double post.

[Darren Grey]

They're also useful for accessing your own code and making changes from any location, which is good if you like to make some changes from work on your lunch break, etc.  And letting others suggest changes through it is very valuable - much easier to accept their push than to copy paste their suggestions in (and also much easier for them to make those suggestions, so it's more likely for people to help).

[naughty]

I use git and google code and it's a great way to have some kind of off-site backup if you commit often enough.

Also I mostly code in my living room on a laptop but when I go upstairs to use my desktop and it's so much quicker to push to the server and then pull when I get upstairs than to use USB drive or even a network share.

There's also useful features like a dev wiki, bug tracking, download areas and so on. I haven't released yet so I've not battle tested all the features but it's nice to know they're there.

[siob]

Maybe http://gist.github.com is enough for you?

I use git, seems to be the current favourite of most.