Git is officially defined as a distributed version control system (VCS).
In other words, it's a system that tracks changes to our project files over time. It enables us to record project changes and go back to a specific version of the tracked files, at any given point in time. This system can be used by many people to efficiently work together and collaborate on team projects, where each developer can have their own version of the project, distributed on their computer. Later on, these individual versions of the project can be merged and adapted into the main version of the project.
Basically, it's a massively popular tool for coordinating parallel work and managing projects among individuals and teams. Needless to say, knowing how to use Git is one of the most important skills for any developer nowadays - and it's definitely a great addition to your resume!
<aside> ℹ️ Git official homepage: https://git-scm.com/
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Git is primarily used via the command-line interface, which we can access with our system terminals.
However, we first need to make sure that we have Git installed on our computers.
<aside> ℹ️ You can download Git here: https://git-scm.com/downloads
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Click the download link for your specific operating system and then follow through the installation wizard to get things set up on your computer!
After installing it, start your terminal and type the following command to verify that Git is ready to be used on your computer:
git --version
If everything went well, it should return the Git version that is installed on your computer.
<aside> <img src="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/094d32ef-20c1-421d-944b-200ec14f150b/apple.png" alt="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/094d32ef-20c1-421d-944b-200ec14f150b/apple.png" width="40px" /> If you are using a Mac or Linux machine, then you can utilize the default Bash terminal that comes pre-installed on your machine.
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<aside> <img src="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/32663572-2b24-4079-bf3f-29f2146d2b56/windows.ico" alt="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/32663572-2b24-4079-bf3f-29f2146d2b56/windows.ico" width="40px" /> If you are using Windows, you can use its built-in Powershell terminal, or the Git Bash terminal which is bundled with the Git installation. For detailed windows Git and Git Bash install instructions, check out this blog post: https://zarkom.net/blogs/how-to-install-git-and-git-bash-on-windows-9140
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In your terminal, run the following commands to identify yourself with Git:
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"