I'm a PHP/MySQL developer who hasn't used any form of versioning aside from copy/paste into a backup folder. I develop Windows, as well. Where should I go, and what should I do to start using Versioning and Control software?
I'm curious, do these methods also apply to the databases you're using and their schema's?
Subversion. Its solid, and you can use TortoiseSVN as a client in windows (if you're on windows). Eclipse also has good subversion support.
I don't know enough about database question but at a minimum you could have versioned sql exports.
EDIT: Subversion, and TortoiseSVN are free :-)
There's a similar linux 'port'of TortoiseSVN called Subdiversvn but I haven't used it that much
My personal tool of choice for Windows is TortoiseSVN, which is a GUI front-end to Subversion. You can also use Git if you have nothing against command-line interfaces (or see this for Git GUIs).
As for database versioning, I use my own tool called Wizardby - it supports pretty much everything I need, including native SQL.
If I were starting fresh I would look at one of the newer generation of distributed version tools like mercurial, git, or bazaar. Here is a decent write up of git vs mercurial vs svn.
I you are the only one working on the source I would recommend using git or mercurial. Unlike SVN, there is no need to set up a server. If you are developing on windows, I would recommend mercurial with TortoiseHg.
Ditto on the TortoiseSVN with Subversion. I would also suggest using a hosted SVN repository like google code or xp-dev.
I've switched from Subversion to Git. Branches are important to me and Git's branch support is unmatched. I use the Windows GUI mostly and the command line occasionally.
Also, it definitely applies to database schemas. Keep all your DDL changes as text files and version them. I used to work on a large Sybase database that the DBA's couldn't reproduce without restoring from a backup tape and cleaning out the tables. They didn't have the DDL to create the DB from scratch and even if they did (there are several tools that could generate it) they weren't setup to handle versioning anyway.
Depending on what you are developing and where/how you develop. If you are developing stuff and constantly on the move I would use a distributed source control like GIT/Mercurial or if you are always developing them from the same place and can always access your repository then I would recommend SVN
If you are coding in a team, have a look to Trac too. Basically, Trac allows hyperlinking information between a computer bug database, revision control and wiki content. It also serves as a web interface to a version control system like Subversion, Git, Mercurial, etc.
If you are new to source control I would start by reading about the basic concepts first.
Subversion (SVN) is probably the only source versioning control software you will ever need to know. TortoiseSVN is a nice client for Windows.
For database schema, what I normally do is to create a sub-folder called "db" and put all my schema there. Be it MySQL, Oracle, MsSQL, etc. I then check the folder into SVN.
You would probably want to have schema upgrade scripts in that folder too.