Git is a distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. It was created by Linus Torvalds in 2005 to manage the development of the Linux kernel, and it has since become one of the most widely used version control systems in the world.
Unlike centralized version control systems, Git is distributed. This means every developer has a full copy of the entire history of the project on their local machine. This enhances reliability and allows for offline work.
Git makes branching and merging very efficient. Branches allow developers to work on features or fixes independently from the main codebase, and merging integrates those changes back into the main branch.
Git tracks changes to files and directories in a repository over time, with each set of changes being stored as a commit. This provides a detailed history of the project, including who made changes and when.
Before committing changes, Git allows you to stage them. This means you can review and organize changes before finalizing them in a commit.
Git supports collaboration through features like pull requests (when using platforms like GitHub) and facilitates working with others by managing conflicts and integrating contributions from multiple people.
Git is designed to be fast, even with large codebases. Operations like commits, branching, and merging are optimized for performance.
Overall, Git helps manage code changes efficiently and is fundamental for modern software development workflows.
