Git vs Github – What’s the Difference ? (Pros and Cons)
Git vs Github – What’s the Difference ? (Pros and Cons). Version control systems are the backbone of helping developers get into the world of open source development. With version control, developers can easily track, modify and manage different changes to codes and files.
Firstly, Git is one of the most commonly used version control systems by developers because it comes with many features that make open source easy. Additionally, Git is also used alongside GitHub. The combination of tools and features from both Git and GitHub makes the experience with open source much better.
So, shall we start with Git vs Github – What’s the Difference ? (Pros and Cons).
What is Git?
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Primarily speaking, Git is one of the most popularly used version control systems. With Git, you work and make changes to a source code and also collaborate with other contributors on a project. Unlike other version control systems, Git is a distributed version control system. This means you save a local copy of a source code or file on your computer. This way, working on code and collaborating with many people on an offline project becomes easy.
Features of Git
- One of Git’s main features is that it is an open source software. As an open source software, it provides developers free access to different source codes to make changes. These changes are stored and viewed by other contributors.
- As a distributed version control system it allows contributors to save a personal copy of the source code from the central repository on their local computers.
- Moreover, Git tracks the history of code. All the changes made to a source code by different contributors are always tracked and recorded. This way, you see the previous line of code and the new changes that have been added.
- Also, Git enables non linear development of projects. This feature lets you work on specific parts or sections of a code without following a straight path. When collaborating on a project, you choose to work on a particular section while the other contributors focus on the rest. Well, it doesn’t have to follow a straight path to build projects.
- Git compresses any excess data stored on the central repository. In turn, this helps minimize the space occupied by excess data and assists in tackling excess information a lot of contributors are processing simultaneously.
Pros of Git
- A lot of operating systems widely accept Git. With this purpose in mind, Git is accessible by operating systems like Windows, Mac, Linux, and the rest. This compatibility helps to increase contributors’ access to the Git platform since most operating systems are compatible.
- Easy to recover lost code on the central repository. Since Git allows you to save a copy of the source code on your local computer, when you lose a source code on the central repository of Git, you can recover the lost code from the locally saved copy on your computer.
- Tool is much faster than competing version control systems. This is because Git is written in C language. Compared to other languages, C language is very similar to machine code, and it helps to speed up processing. Because Git is very quick, it handles huge projects very effectively.
- Git’s distribution system allows users to work on a project from anywhere in the world. Various remote users can access the central repository of the system through a version control system.
Cons of Git
- The storage capabilities of Git are pretty much the same as that of other version control systems. The only disadvantage here is that it is impossible to save large binary files in the central repository of Git. Well, Git doesn’t have the feature to compress the size of these large binary files on its central repository.
- Git is an advanced version control system that might be a little tricky to understand if you are new to it. There is a long chain of commands to understand, which prove quite daunting to newbies. Unless you are experienced with using version control systems, Git is a bit difficult to learn.
- There is no access limit to the central repository of Git. Anybody who has access to the central repository will also have access to every piece of information available in it. This exposes Git to cyber threats and attacks.
Up next with Git vs Github – What’s the Difference ? is to learn about Github.
What is GitHub?
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Second tool is called GitHub. All in all, a web based code hosting platform for the different codes/files from git repositories. Basically, it helps you keep records of changes to your codes, and it also manages these codes for you. Besides, Github helps expose your code to a wider audience and makes it easy for you to collaborate with many other people from around the world.
As a web/cloud hosting platform, GitHub also comes with a free offer or paid subscription to gain access to a few features. Free subscriptions only let you use a public repository where anyone can easily copy your code since it is public. Paid subscriptions, on the other hand, offer you a private hosting central repository, which will only be accessed by people you permit to.
Features Of GitHub
- One of the main features of GitHub is that it provides code hosting. This code hosting feature enables you to save different codes as well as their track records on unlimited repositories.
- There are tools like pull request and issue available on GitHub, making it easy to manage a team working on a project effectively. As a result, these tools help to keep every team member on the same page for the whole team to move forward effectively.
- GitHub allows you to secure your code as you write it. Users can automatically review each change they make to their codebase and therefore identify any vulnerability before it reaches production.
- GitHub has features like “bug tracking.” Bug tracking is used to effectively locate, manage and work on different bugs in a code. Developers can also use the integrated “issue” feature to serve this same purpose.
Pros of GitHub
- GitHub is an amazing web based platform that developers can use to showcase their work since it reaches a wider audience. This exposure to a wide audience helps many developers to actively search for recruiters. A few recruiters usually look into many GitHub profiles in search of a developer to employ/recruit.
- GitHub allows its users to back up all of their work to amazon or google cloud. This ability to back up to a google account means you can access all of your work from a different computer as long as you have your google account details. Helps you to recover any code you might lose in real time.
- With GitHub, you increase the privacy of your repository by subscribing to a plan. Privatizing your repository makes it difficult for anyone to gain access to your files or codes (unlike using the free subscription, where you get a public access). This privatization makes it difficult for your de to get copied, and it also protects your repository from cyber threats.
Cons of GitHub
- You can’t use many GitHub features unless you pay for them. This payment might be frustrating for a few developers who may be on a tight budget. Also, for people who organize a team on GitHub, it will cost them to purchase these features for every single member of the team.
- You can only carry out an activity on GitHub by connecting to the internet. You can’t save any work locally and work on it offline. Since it is a web based platform, you always need to be online to work.
- GitHub isn’t functional for tracking designs. All you can use it for is to keep track of the codes you have already made. Trying to export designs in GitHub can take a lot of work to carry out. The reason design tracking is difficult is that GitHub lacks tools like LayerVault.
Now the main part of the article about Git vs Github – What’s the Difference ? is to compare both tools.
Differences Between Git and GitHub
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Let’s compare the solutions below: Git vs Github – What’s the Difference ?
Architecture
Git
On one side, Git is a distributed version control system installed on your computer to manage and keep track of your codes. The software allows you to both create your codes or manage that of others while also working with people on a project.
GitHub
On the other, Github is a web based code hosting platform for all git repositories. Unlike Git, GitHub lives in the cloud. After creating your codes on Git, you can switch up these codes on GitHub on your profile. One thing to understand is that Git can exist without GitHub, but GitHub cannot exist without Git. The reason is that all the information on GitHub is usually transferred from Git itself.
Backup Choice
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Git
If you ever lose the source code on the central repository, you can always recover it from a copy you had already saved on your local device. Note that if you didn’t have a copy of the source code on your device before losing it, it might only be easy to recover it if another contributor already has a saved copy on their local computer that they can use for backup recovery.
GitHub
Unlike Git, GitHub is cloud based. After working on different files and codes, you can save these codes to either amazon or google cloud. If you lose your codes from the central repository, you can always recover them using the backup information already stored in the cloud.
Price
Git
Besides, Git is a free, open source software and has been that way since its introduction. Every source code available on Git is accessible to the public; the same happens with the range of tools available on Git. The free and open source options make it a goto destination to manage and work on codes easily.
GitHub
Comparatively, GitHub is only partially free. While you use the free version of GitHub, the tools and features available are also limited. The only way to gain access to these tools and features is to pay for a subscription.
Commands Execution
Git
To execute commands on Git, a developer must use the different command line tools to create a commit. The developer will do all this manually by typing in the lines from their local computer. The only way you can perfectly execute commands is if you are experienced at writing them.
GitHub
Executing commands on GitHub is easier because of the graphical user interface. This interface gives the developer access to all these tools only with a button click. The graphical user interface also helps reduce the stress of remembering every line of command you want to use.
Functions
Git
The main focus of Git is code sharing and version control. Here, you get free access to different source codes you can easily work with alongside a few other contributors.
GitHub
On GitHub, the focus is on a centralized repository where you host your code. Instead of working on the codes of others, you give them access to work on the code saved on your central repository.
Project Management
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Git
No direct tool is used to help project management while using Git. It is challenging to assign tasks and keep track of them to help better a team working on a project to work with each other effectively.
GitHub
There are tools available on GitHub, like “bug tracking,” which goes a long way to help with project management. The “issue” tool allows you to assign tasks and track them automatically. With all of these said, managing a team working on a project is easy on GitHub because the bug tracking feature allows them to work uniformly.
Thank you for reading Git vs Github – What’s the Difference ? (Pros and Cons). We should conclude.
Git vs Github – What’s the Difference ? (Pros and Cons) Conclusion
To summarize, Git is an amazing version control system you use it to modify codes or collaborate with other project contributors. To gain access to more features and tools to make open source better, you can use Git alongside GitHub. GitHub is hosting for all your Git repositories and comes with useful features.
Before trying out both Git and GitHub, you must understand their differences. In this article, we have stated the differences between Git and GitHub you will need to know before trying them out. This will help you understand both platforms better as you move on with them.
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