Git

What it is

Git is a distributed version-control system: it records the history of files in a repository and lets people work on changes in parallel. A normal clone keeps a local repository history, so many everyday actions—creating commits, branches, and merges—can happen before sharing work with a hosted service such as Azure Repos or GitHub.

Why it exists

Teams need a trustworthy answer to “what changed, who changed it, and how do we return to an earlier version?” Git records those changes as commits. Branches give a change its own workspace, and a pull request provides a deliberate way to review it before it reaches shared work.

Key ideas

• Repository (repo) is the project and its recorded history. The hidden .git directory holds Git’s local data.
• Commit is a named record of a coherent change. It has an identifier, parent history, author information, message, and the file state it records.
• Branch is a lightweight named line of development. A feature branch lets someone work without changing main immediately.
• Remote is a shared repository location. fetch brings remote history into the local repo; push shares local commits; pull updates local work using fetched changes.
• Working directory, staging area, and commit history are the everyday flow: edit files, use git add to choose what belongs in the next commit, then use git commit to record it.

Northwind example

Luis changes the delivery-fee calculation on a branch named feature/delivery-fee. He stages the intended files, writes a commit message that explains the reason, and pushes the branch to Northwind’s shared Azure Repos project. The production main branch has not changed yet. Luis opens a pull request so teammates can inspect the exact diff and automated checks can run before the branch is merged.

Common workflow (memorize)

git clone → create a branch → edit → git add → git commit → git push → open a pull-request → merge after the required review and checks.

Exam notes

• Git records a directed history of commits and supports local branches.
• A commit identifier refers to a recorded state and history; do not confuse it with a deployment approval.
• Azure DevOps and GitHub host Git repositories and add collaboration features such as pull requests and permissions.

Related

branching-strategy · pull-request · merge-conflict · git-hooks · azure-repos · github

📘 Source: Microsoft Learn — Git