Git for beginners: from installation to first commit

Artyom Dovgopol

Git is like a time machine for your code: one click, and you can jump back to any moment in development. Trust me, it will save your bacon multiple times!😉

Key takeaways👌

Introduction

Do you remember, back in school, when we'd save documents as "final", "final2", "really_final", "absolutely_final_this_time"? Git addresses that same problem, but professionally. Think of it as a super-smart autosave that remembers every change and lets you jump back to any point in your work.

What is Git?

Imagine you're writing a book together with your friends. Someone's working on chapter one, another one is on chapter two, and the third one is fixing errors in the parts already written. Without a control system, it would be chaotic. Git is like a smart editor that knows who changed what and when, it can piece all the changes together, and undo any edits that didn't work out. 

Git didn't become the industry standard by accident. It's like Discord in the world of chat apps — sure, there are other options, but everyone uses it because it just works and you can trust it. 

As projects grow, version control becomes the backbone of development. Structured software development relies on Git not only for collaboration, but also for maintaining code quality, reviewing features, and ensuring stable releases across teams.

When it comes to analytics, fancy dashboards and terabytes of data aren't what matters. What's important is asking the right questions and understanding why you need these numbers. Often, a team with simple metrics but clear goals achieves more than an analytics department with sophisticated tools

Basic Git concepts

Let's understand Git through some simple gaming analogies. Imagine you're developing a video game: 

• Repository is your game universe, having all the code and its history
• Commit is like hitting save in a game. "Level cleared, boss defeated – better save now!" 
• Branch — want to add a new level? Create a branch and experiment freely without risking the main game
• Merge — new level tested and ready? Time to add it to the main game world

In large projects, Git acts as a stability layer: backups, version history, protected branches, and automated checks. For companies maintaining long-term digital products, strong Git processes pair perfectly with technical maintenance and continuous development, helping prevent regressions and simplify updates.

And here are the commands

• git init — create a new game world
• git add — mark what you want to save (new textures, mechanics, levels)
• git commit — save your game
• git push — upload your changes to the main server
• git pull — download changes other developers made

See the pattern? It's like a save system in games, but way more powerful and perfect for teamwork. And just like in gaming, the more you save, the less likely you are to lose your progress! 

When Git really saves you

Here's a real story: once a junior dev accidentally wiped the production database (yes, it happens!) Without Git? Total disaster. With Git? Ten minutes to roll back to the last working version, and the crisis is averted.

Many of these “saved by Git” moments become invisible once a team introduces automation. With modern CI/CD tools and structured automation processes, Git can trigger testing, code reviews, security checks, and deployments—reducing the human factor and catching issues before they ever reach production.

These situations are pretty common in development. Someone might accidentally change important code during a merge, or push a bug to production that crashes the server. When you're panicking, it's easy to make things worse. But with Git, you can simply roll back, take a breath, and fix the issue properly without rushing. 

Here's another scenario: a client asks to restore a feature that was removed three months ago. Without Git, you'd be rewriting everything from scratch. With Git, you just find the right commit, check the old code, and restore what you need in a couple of hours. It's like having a time machine for your code — you can hop between the versions of your project. 

In big projects, working without Git is like coding with one hand, while the other one is tied behind your back. I've seen teams try to develop without version control — they always end up in chaos. Git doesn't just save code, it saves developers' sanity.

— Matt Mullenweg, creator of WordPress

And a bit more about optimizing processes...

Want to learn how to make working on large projects more efficient? Check out our article How to improve JavaScript performance, where we share useful tools and approaches that can help not only with development but also with organizing team workflows

Recommended to explore:

Atlassian Git Tutorials

Comprehensive tutorials and guides for mastering Git version control.

GitKraken

Powerful Git GUI client with intuitive visualization tools.

Git-SCM

Official Git documentation and reference materials.

Recommended reading 🤓

"Pro Git", Scott Chacon

Think of it as Git 101. Scott Chacon wrote it so clearly that even complete beginners can follow easily.

On Amazon

"Git for Teams", Emma Jane Hogbin Westby

If you work in a team, this book will be your lifesaver.

On Amazon

"Version Control with Git", Prem Kumar Ponuthorai

For those who want to understand what's happening under the Git's hood.

On Amazon

Conclusion

Git isn't just yet another tool, it's your safety net against those "oops, I broke everything" moments. Start small: create a repository, make your first commit, play a bit with branches. Soon enough, you'll wonder how you had ever coded without it. And remember: even the most seasoned developers once struggled with Git commands. The key is just to start!

#Web development