For example, they don’t waste disk space (which a simple file system copy would do) and they are much more capable when it comes to collaborating with other developers in the same project. Of course, they are much more clever than our simple “copy folder” strategy. But there’s an easy way to mitigate these risks: you could simply duplicate the whole project folder! In this copy, you could then make any changes you like, without worrying about breaking something.īranches in Git have the exact same effect and purpose: they provide developers with separate workspaces for their code. In such a situation you would have to be very careful when making changes-because you couldn’t easily undo them and you would risk breaking the current, working version. Just for a moment, let’s pretend that version control and especially its concept of “branches” didn’t exist. when developing a new feature or fixing a problem) will most likely involve a couple of those files. Put simply, a code base is a collection of files. We’ll be looking at the concept of branches in Git from a high-level perspective-with the ultimate goal of better understanding what they are and how they should be used so that you and your team can get the most benefit out of them. What do branches look like under the hood in Git?.How are they used, especially in teams?.In this post, I’d like to explore and explain the what, why, and how of branches: It has made working with branches so quick and easy that many developers have adopted the concept for their daily work. But why exactly is it so popular? The answer, at least in my opinion, is pretty clear: branches! They allow you to keep different versions of your code cleanly separated-ideal when collaborating in a team with other people, but also for yourself when you begin working on a new feature.Īlthough other version control systems also offer some form of branching, Git’s concept and implementation are just stunning. Git has won the race for the most popular version control system.

Githue what is the purposes of branches