Git Tutorial
What is Git?
Git is an open-source distributed version control system. It is designed to handle minor to major projects with high speed and efficiency. It is developed to co-ordinate the work among the developers. The version control allows us to track and work together with our team members at the same workspace.
Git is foundation of many services like GitHub and GitLab, but we can use Git without using any other Git services. Git can be used privately and publicly.
Git was created by Linus Torvalds in 2005 to develop Linux Kernel. It is also used as an important distributed version-control tool for the DevOps.
Git is easy to learn, and has fast performance. It is superior to other SCM tools like Subversion, CVS, Perforce, and ClearCase.
Features of Git
Some remarkable features of Git are as follows:
- Speed
Git is very fast, so it can complete all the tasks in a while. Most of the git operations are done on the local repository, so it provides a huge speed. Also, a centralized version control system continually communicates with a server somewhere.
Performance tests conducted by Mozilla showed that it was extremely fast compared to other VCSs. Fetching version history from a locally stored repository is much faster than fetching it from the remote server. The core part of Git is written in C, which ignores runtime overheads associated with other high-level languages.
Git was developed to work on the Linux kernel; therefore, it is capable enough to handle large repositories effectively. From the beginning, speed and performance have been Git’s primary goals. - Branching and Merging
Branching and merging are the great features of Git, which makes it different from the other SCM tools. Git allows the creation of multiple branches without affecting each other. We can perform tasks like creation, deletion, and merging on branches, and these tasks take a few seconds only. Below are some features that can be achieved by branching: - We can create a separate branch for a new module of the project, commit and delete it whenever we want.
- We can have a production branch, which always has what goes into production and can be merged for testing in the test branch.
- We can create a demo branch for the experiment and check if it is working. We can also remove it if needed.
- The core benefit of branching is if we want to push something to a remote repository, we do not have to push all of our branches. We can select a few of our branches, or all of them together.
- Data Assurance
The Git data model ensures the cryptographic integrity of every unit of our project. It provides a unique commit ID to every commit through a SHA algorithm. We can retrieve and update the commit by commit ID. Most of the centralized version control systems do not provide such integrity by default. - Staging Area
The Staging area is also a unique functionality of Git. It can be considered as a preview of our next commit, moreover, an intermediate area where commits can be formatted and reviewed before completion. When you make a commit, Git takes changes that are in the staging area and make them as a new commit. We are allowed to add and remove changes from the staging area. The staging area can be considered as a place where Git stores the changes.
Although, Git doesn’t have a dedicated staging directory where it can store some objects representing file changes (blobs). Instead of this, it uses a file called index.
- Maintain the clean history
Git facilitates with Git Rebase; It is one of the most helpful features of Git. It fetches the latest commits from the master branch and puts our code on top of that. Thus, it maintains a clean history of the project.
Benefits of Git
A version control application allows us to keep track of all the changes that we make in the files of our project. Every time we make changes in files of an existing project, we can push those changes to a repository. Other developers are allowed to pull your changes from the repository and continue to work with the updates that you added to the project files.
Some significant benefits of using Git are as follows:
- Saves Time
Git is lightning fast technology. Each command takes only a few seconds to execute so we can save a lot of time as compared to login to a GitHub account and find out its features. - Track the Changes
Git facilitates with some exciting features such as Diff, Log, and Status, which allows us to track changes so we can check the status, compare our files or branches.
Why Git?
We have discussed many features and benefits of Git that demonstrate the undoubtedly Git as the leading version control system. Now, we will discuss some other points about why should we choose Git.
- Git Integrity
Git is developed to ensure the security and integrity of content being version controlled. It uses checksum during transit or tampering with the file system to confirm that information is not lost. Internally it creates a checksum value from the contents of the file and then verifies it when transmitting or storing data. - Trendy Version Control System
Git is the most widely used version control system. It has maximum projects among all the version control systems. Due to its amazing workflow and features, it is a preferred choice of developers. - Everything is Local
Almost All operations of Git can be performed locally; this is a significant reason for the use of Git. We will not have to ensure internet connectivity. - Collaborate to Public Projects
There are many public projects available on the GitHub. We can collaborate on those projects and show our creativity to the world. Many developers are collaborating on public projects. The collaboration allows us to stand with experienced developers and learn a lot from them; thus, it takes our programming skills to the next level. - Impress Recruiters
We can impress recruiters by mentioning the Git and GitHub on our resume. Send your GitHub profile link to the HR of the organization you want to join. Show your skills and influence them through your work. It increases the chances of getting hired.
Originally published at https://www.techbotnet.com.
