In the ever-evolving world of software development, understanding Git – the world’s most popular version control system – is a non-negotiable. Whether you’re a budding developer or a seasoned professional, you’re likely to encounter Git-related questions in your next job interview. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the top 10 most important Git interview questions, providing detailed answers to help you stand out from the crowd.
- What is Git?
- Git is a Distributed Version Control System (DVCS). It allows you to track changes made to a file and revert back to any particular change. It doesn’t rely on a central server to store all versions of a project’s files. Instead, every developer “clones” a copy of a repository and has the full history of the project available on their hard drive.
- What is the difference between Git and SVN?
- Git is a decentralized version control tool, while SVN is a centralized version control tool. Git belongs to the 3rd generation of version control tools, and SVN belongs to the 2nd generation. In Git, clients can clone entire repositories on their local systems, and commits are possible even if offline. In SVN, version history is stored on a server-side repository, and only online commits are allowed.
- What is a distributed VCS?
- Distributed VCSs don’t rely on a central server to store a project file and all its versions. In Distributed VCS, every contributor can get a local copy or “clone” of the main repository. They can commit and update their local repository without any hassles. With an operation called “pull”, they can update their local repositories with new data from the central server.
- What is the difference between Git and Github?
- Git is a version control system of distributed nature that is used to track changes in source code during software development. GitHub, on the other hand, is a Git repository hosting service, which provides a web-based graphical interface, access control, and several collaboration features.
- What are the benefits of using Version Control System?
- With the Version Control System (VCS), all team members are allowed to work freely on any file at any time. VCS gives you the flexibility to merge all changes into a common version. All previous versions and variants are neatly packed up inside the VCS. You can request any version at any time as per your requirement.
- What language is used in Git?
- Git uses ‘C’ language. GIT is fast, and ‘C’ language makes this possible by reducing the overhead of run times associated with high-level languages.
- What is a commit message?
- The command that is used to write a commit message is “git commit -a”. The -a on the command line instructs git to commit the new content of all tracked files that have been modified. You can use “git add <file>” before git commit -a if new files need to be committed for the first time.
- How can you fix a broken commit?
- To fix any broken commit, use the command “git commit –amend”. When you run this command, you can fix the broken commit message in the editor.
- What is a repository in Git?
- A repository in Git is a place where Git stores all the files. Git can store the files either on the local repository or on the remote repository.
- How can you create a repository in Git?
- To create a repository, create a directory for the project if it does not exist, then run the command “git init”. By running this command, a .git directory will be created in the project directory.
