Snapshots
Snapshots are a software development concept that refers to a point-in-time capture of the state of a system, such as a database, file system, virtual machine, or application data. They are used to preserve a consistent view of data or configuration at a specific moment, enabling features like backups, rollbacks, testing, and data recovery. In modern development, snapshots are commonly implemented in version control systems (e.g., Git commits), databases, cloud platforms, and testing frameworks to ensure reproducibility and reliability.
Developers should learn and use snapshots to manage system states effectively, particularly for backup and disaster recovery scenarios, where they allow quick restoration to a previous stable version. They are essential in continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines for creating reproducible test environments and in database management for point-in-time recovery without disrupting live operations. Snapshots also support agile development by enabling safe experimentation and rollback in case of errors.