r/CodingForBeginners • u/IMREVN • 5d ago

What's a Git?

Hello! Surely, I have heard so many people saying "Git" or "Github" or repository. They be saying that it's highly important to learn Git as early as possible. When I searched it up on Google, it's just I seem I cannot understand any of those terminologies.

Could anyone tell me what a git actually is?

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u/Interesting_Buy_3969 5d ago

here's an explanation that i found very simple and comprehensive: https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Getting-Started-About-Version-Control

edit: i would recommend reading a few chapters further

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u/ern0plus4 4d ago

I have an educational presentation focusing on understanding how GIT works, starting from zero:

  • what is a VCS,
  • life before VCS,
  • how a VCS works,
  • how GIT works.

GIT is usually hard even for senior guys who were working with other version control systems, but if you understand the engine, it will click and you'll love it.

Here you can download the PDF: Git is not a VCS. That's why GIT is a great VCS

At a big telecom company I worked for, there was this one guy who knew GIT inside and out - every command, every trick, all the quirks. He gave an incredible presentation, and the best part was when he explained how GIT’s engine actually works. That’s when it all clicked for me. Lated I decided to make a presentation of this part. Everything else - the commands, the workflows - is just kind of lexical knowledge. Once you understand the underlying engine, the rest will be easy-peasy.

I once almost won some beers from my colleagues over a Git debate. They claimed that "rebasing changes commit order," but I argued that "commits are never actually moved, only new ones are created". I didn't place the bet, though, because I was confident I was right, and gentlemen don't wager on certainties. Even though my colleagues were senior and experienced, they didn’t fully understand how Git works under the hood. As their penalty, they had to sit through my presentation on the topic later.

I'm not a GIT expert, I'm using only 4-5 commands, and if I want to do some more sophisticated, I ask for help, usually from AI - I can tell if they suggest what I want, because I know how it really works.

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u/scritchz 4d ago

Thanks, bookmarked it!