Introduction to Git
So, what is Git and why is it so popular?
Git is a version control system created in 2005 by Linus Torvalds, the same person who built the Linux operating system. He designed it to manage the development of the Linux kernel—a massive project with thousands of contributors spread around the world. Existing tools couldn't handle that scale efficiently, so he built something faster, more flexible, and distributed.
Too bad I didn't have Internet access back then. I could've used Git to save my project from the disaster.
Git quickly became the standard for version control. Twenty years later, it's used everywhere—from open-source projects to large companies. Tools like GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket are built around it. Most text editors, IDEs, and automated build systems integrate Git directly, making it part of almost every modern development workflow.
Git won the race... But why?
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Git is very fast. Common tasks like comparing changes, branching, and merging happen quickly, even on large projects.
Before: comparing two versions of a large codebase could take minutes or even hours.
After: with Git, those same operations run almost instantly, even when the repository has years of history. -
Git makes development flexible. With Git, it's easy to create, switch between, and merge parallel branches of code. This encourages experimentation: you're not afraid to break half the project by trying out new button styles.
Before: teams often worked directly on a single shared version of the code. One mistake could block everyone else, sometimes for days.
After: each developer can branch off, test new ideas, and merge them back when they're ready. -
Git is distributed by design. Every user has a complete copy of the project's history. You can work offline and synchronize later, without relying on a central server.
Before: losing connection to the main server meant losing the ability to work.
After: you can keep coding on a plane, on a train, or in a network outage—then sync everything once you're back online. -
Git guarantees data integrity. Every file and commit is verified with checksums, protecting against corruption and tampering.
Before: it was possible for files to be accidentally overwritten or changed without anyone noticing.
After: Git's cryptographic checksums ensure that every version is traceable and verifiable. Nobody can sneak a virus into a project or delete a bunch of code without it being obvious. -
Git is open source and free. Git is freely available, open to modification, and maintained by a large global community.
Before: many teams relied on expensive or proprietary version control systems.
After: students, hobbyists, and global companies alike use the same free tool, with community improvements arriving almost daily. -
Git has a huge ecosystem. Its popularity has produced a rich set of supporting tools, services, and integrations that make it fit naturally into almost any project.
Before: sharing code meant emailing ZIP files or using slow internal servers with no version tracking.
After: developers host projects on GitHub or GitLab, where others can fork, review, and contribute through pull requests—just like how open-source projects such as React or Django evolve.
That's about it. Now, let's see a brief overview of how Git works before we jump into action and try it out.
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