# Knowledge Check: Why Version Control Exists

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**1. Name three real properties version control gives you that copying files as backups
doesn't.**

*Answer:* Any three of: structured history of every change, reproducibility of exact past
states, real collaboration between multiple people, a single agreed-upon source of truth,
confident rollback to a known-good state.

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**2. Why does `final_v2_ACTUALLY_FINAL.txt` fail as a version-control strategy?**

*Answer:* It has no record of what changed or why between versions, doesn't scale past a
handful of files, and provides no way to merge two people's simultaneous changes.

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**3. What does "source of truth" mean in the context of version control?**

*Answer:* One authoritative, agreed-upon history of a project that everyone treats as
correct — as opposed to ambiguity over which copy or filename is the "real" current version.

## Instructor Notes

**Facilitation:** Keep this brief — it's checking motivation/vocabulary before the hands-on
modules begin, not testing depth yet.

**Approximate timing:** 4 minutes.