How to keep web app on local and remote server connected?

In order to update a remote server开发者_高级运维's files, I have been copying files over which I have changed. Is there a better way to keep the files on the remote server and the files on the local server synchronized? I watched a video where someone had an svn repository and just ssh'd into his server and checked out from the svn repository. I assume that he just committed his local server files onto the svn repository and checked from a repository source onto his remote server.

If you're going to use Git, this question may help you. For SVN, see these questions:

• Deploying a Website from Subversion
• Using SVN With a Staging and Live Website