Git

Git is a distributed version control system that tracks changes in source code during software development. Created by Linus Torvalds in 2005 for Linux kernel development, it enables multiple developers to work on the same codebase simultaneously through branching, merging, and conflict resolution. Every developer local copy contains the complete project history, making operations fast and enabling work without network access.

Git branching model is its most powerful feature. Creating a branch is nearly instantaneous because Git only creates a pointer to a commit rather than copying files. This makes it practical to create branches for individual features, bug fixes, or experiments, then merge them back when complete. Workflows like Git Flow, GitHub Flow, and trunk-based development provide different strategies for organizing branch usage across teams.

For web development, Git is the universal version control system. Virtually every web project uses Git, and platforms like GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket build collaboration features on top of it including pull requests, code review, and CI/CD integration. Understanding operations beyond basic commit and push, including rebase, cherry-pick, bisect for finding bugs, and stash for managing work in progress, directly affects developer productivity. Git is also the deployment mechanism for many hosting platforms.