[IIAB] Saving as changes v. Saving as snapshots

[John Kim]

Hello,

I'm cc-ing to Internet-in-a-Box, so that someone can help me grasp a concept.

I just started reading Pro Git, by Scott Chacon, today.  I'm keeping flashcards of the diagrams here because I think that will aid me conceptually about how version control works.

I see that cvs typically save files as changes, whereas git saves files as snapshots, essentially becoming a mini filesystem.  In what ways is saving as snapshots advantageous to saving as changes, and vice-versa? Why would saving as changes be less efficient or possibly even not as reliable as saving as snapshots? The book really didn't delve into this matter, so I'm really curious. 

I would appreciate any help I can get.  Thanks very much!

John Kim
Student/FOSS Enthusiast
www.internet-in-a-box.org
thinkndev at gmail.com