Author: Mike Glazer
Version control is a necessary component of any development environment. Without version control we sit in constant fear of making changes because we don't want to potentially lose our work. Centralized version control systems have existed for a long time, RCS, CVS and Subversion to name a few. However, all of these systems suffer from the same fundamental flaws. They require access to a centralized server to perform any common actions against the repository, like saving your work. These version control systems also impose a strict development flow on teams, which leads to frustration by many users.
Decentralized version control systems are a new breed of VCS that don't require access to a centralized server to do work. git is one such system, created by members of the Linux kernel team because no other VCS was satisfactory. With git, branches are cheap and effective, merging is intelligent, and you can save your work at any time. This presentation is designed for the developer who wants just enough knowledge about git so that they can start using it for their projects.