Git is a distributed version control system — software that tracks every change made to a codebase over time. It records who changed what, when, and why, and makes it possible for multiple developers to work on the same project without overwriting each other’s work.
Created by Linus Torvalds in 2005 (the same person who created Linux), Git has become the industry standard for source code management.
You’ll hear this when…
Git terminology is everywhere in software development. Key terms you’ll encounter:
- Repository (repo): A project tracked by Git. Contains the full history of all changes.
- Commit: A saved snapshot of changes, with a message describing what was done.
- Branch: A parallel line of development. Teams use branches to work on features without affecting the main codebase.
- Merge: Combining changes from one branch into another.
- Pull request (PR): A proposal to merge changes, usually with a review process.
- Clone: Copying a remote repository to your local machine.
“Push your changes,” “open a PR,” and “merge to main” are daily phrases on any development team.
Git vs. GitHub
Git is the version control tool. GitHub (along with GitLab and Bitbucket) is a platform that hosts Git repositories and adds collaboration features — code review, issue tracking, CI/CD integration, and access control. You can use Git without GitHub, but most teams use both.
Source: Git documentation