A brief explanation of git and GitHub - bounswe/2021SpringGroup6 GitHub Wiki

What is git?

Today, git is the most popular version control system in the world. With version control systems, we can track our project history and collaborate as a team during the development of a software. In other words, it helps us manage project files. Although it’s mostly used for code, git could be used to manage any other type of file, such as Word documents. A version control system is an absolutely necessary tool in any software project.

While developing a software, initially a basic version of the software is built. Then, slowly and steadily, the developers keep adding new features and making experiments with it and the software continues to improve. However, this experiment and improvement process is highly error prone. Hence, sometimes the developers might want to revert to a previous version of the software. A version control system plays its part exactly here. A VMS makes it easy and feasible to revert to a previous version, tracking all the changes from the beginning, no matter how many changes were made.

Why is git so widely used?

Git has many advantages and superiorities when compared to other version control systems.

  • Firstly and most importantly, it is free and open source. One can see its source code in its GitHub page here.
  • It is easier to learn.
  • It is not a centralized VMS, but a distributed VMS. On a Distributed VCS, everyone has a local copy of the entire project’s history. This helps avoiding problems caused by for instance a server crash. It also allows simultaneous work on the same files.
  • It has cheap and local branching features.

What is GitHub?

It is really important to make a distinction between git and GitHub. GitHub is essentially a git repository hosting service. It is completely cloud-based. GitHub does not only offer all the features of git, but it also presents a great graphical user interface. Provided that he/she has internet connection, a person's git repositories can be remotely accessed by anyone, who is authorized to do so, in the world.

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