Learning the basics of the distributed version control system Git
Using a version control system is an absolute requirement in programming and research. This is the tool that makes it just about impossible to lose one's work. In this recipe, we will cover the basics of Git.
Getting ready
Notable distributed version control systems include Git, Mercurial, and Bazaar, among others. In this chapter, we will use the popular Git system. You can download the Git program and Git GUI clients from http://git-scm.com.
Note
Distributed systems tend to be more popular than centralized systems such as SVN or CVS. Distributed systems allow local (offline) changes and offer more flexible collaboration systems.
An online provider allows you to host your code in the cloud. You can use it as a backup of your work and as a platform to share your code with your colleagues. These services include GitHub (https://github.com), GitLab (https://gitlab.com), and Bitbucket (https://bitbucket.org). All of these websites...