What is Git?

Git is a distributed version control system. It tracks every change you make to your code, lets you go back in time, and enables collaboration with other developers.

Why Git?

• History. Every version of your code is saved forever
• Branching, work on features without breaking the main codebase
• Collaboration. Multiple developers work on the same project safely
• Backup. Your code lives on GitHub, not just your laptop

Git vs GitHub

• Git. The version control tool that runs on your computer
• GitHub, a website that hosts Git repositories online

Key concepts

• Repository (repo), a project folder tracked by Git
• Commit, a snapshot of your code at a point in time
• Branch, a parallel version of your code
• Remote, the online version of your repo (on GitHub)

First-time setup

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"