Git is the most widely used free open source version control system platform for software developers, it is used to track changes in source code files i.e. view historical data and to coordinate collaboration among programmers working on the same projects. Git is easy to use and is also very fast hence it is loved by most software developers worldwide. It offers features such as multiple workflows, cheap local branching and convenient staging areas making it better than Software Configuration Management (SCM) tools.
Git was originally developed by Linus Torvalds who also developed the “Linux” open source operating system, Git was developed further by Junio Hamano who currently maintains it with other developers. It was first released on April 7, 2005 and is updated frequently. Git is written in Python, C, Perl, Shell and Tcl programming languages. The Git directory is a complete repository containing full history and tracking of projects.
Git means “stupid person” in British slang, Torvalds named it so because he described git as “the stupid content tracker”, it is also called “global information tracker”.
Git is known for its distributed architecture, super speed, security, flexibility, top performance with rapid branching, fetching and merging. Git was developed on Linux OS but offers support for Windows, Mac OS, Solaris and others.
Git’s repository files combine delta encoding, compression and explicit storage of directory and version metadata content. Git files are secured with SHA1 which is a secure cryptographic hashing algorithm, it protects both code and historical data from attacks.
Git is a flexible platform as it supports different non-linear development workflows, works well for small and big projects and is compatible with most protocols and systems.
Advantages of Git
The advantages of Git are:
- Free
- Good functionality
- Top performance
- Strong security
- Flexibility
- Distributed architecture
- Large talent pool
- Easy integration with other tools
- Top notch community support
- Vast user base
- Excellent documentation and tutorials
Disadvantages of Git
The disadvantages of Git are:
- Difficult to learn
- The switch from a central repository to a distributed one can be hectic.
Best Git Repository Hosting Services
Git repository hosting services are services which host and manage source code using the Git software.
1. Github
GitHub is the most popular web based Git repository hosting service and is also the largest source code host in the world. GitHub offers all the features of Git and has its own features as well.
GitHub hosts open source software projects in its free and paid private repositories. GitHub had about 20 million users operating 57 million repositories as at April 2017.
GitHub was launched in April 2008 and was founded by Chris Wanstrath, PJ Hyett and Tom Preston-Werner.
GitHub is accessed and controlled using the Git command line program, Github has a number of desktop clients, Git plugins and a social network for developers which is one of the top online forums for programmers. GitHub is referred to as the ” Facebook for Programmers”.
GitHub was written with Ruby on Rails and Erlang programming languages. Github offers an enterprise solution for large software development companies and enables corporations host repositories with corporate firewall protection.
GitHub boasts of the biggest companies in the world as clients including Microsoft, Facebook, Google and more. Github surpassed $200 million in revenue in 2017 and is currently worth more than US$2 billion.
2. GitLab
GitLab is a Git repository hosting service developed by GitLab inc. GitLab is web based and was first written in the Ruby programming language and later edited in part in the Go programming language, it was written by Dmitriy Zaporozhets and Valery Sizov both Ukrainians.
Gitlab has a huge list of big clients such as IBM, Alibaba, NASA, Sony and more.