Beginner · 4 min read
What is Git, actually?
Before typing commands: what Git does, and why GitHub is not Git.
A time machine for your code
Git records snapshots of your project called commits. Each one says what changed, who did it, when and why. You can go back to any of them, compare them, and work on several versions at once with branches.
Git vs GitHub
Git is the tool on your computer; it works offline. GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket are websites that host a copy of your repository so you can share it, back it up and review code together.
The vocabulary in 30 seconds
Repository (repo): your project tracked by Git. Commit: a saved snapshot. Branch: a line of work. Remote: the copy on GitHub (usually called origin). Push: send your commits. Pull: get the others' commits.