What the heck is version control and why do I need it?
Version control, with tools like GitHub Desktop (GitHub) or BitBucket (Atlassian – SourceTree)are typically used by programmers who are working on a team where more than one person may be working on an application. It allows each person to work without over-writing the others’ work. It also allows a team lead to review new code/updates before pushing them to the live site.
Another thing that it does, for the independent programmer, is allow you to roll back without needing to know everything that was touched.
The version control software will keep track of all changes for you!
So if you’re vibe coding and the AI tool updates a few different files based on your prompt, but the code is not working correctly and you’re trying to back out of that update, you can go to your version control software and remove all of the most recent changes and roll back to what everything was before.
You can also see a list of the files that were changed instantly! And review the code – with the specific lines of code that were updated – in a preview panel.
This software and workflow technology was created for teams to work together efficiently, and it also enables working with AI tools like Windsurf and Cursor more efficiently as well!
Here are some links and videos about it – some are informational and some will teach you how to use it from the start.
It’s very easy to learn – it won’t take you more than 3-4 hours to set it up and learn the most basic parts of it.
Tip – you do not need to use SSH/Terminal for this. GitHub Desktop for GitHub repositories or SourceTree for BitBucket repositories are visual and easy interfaces that will do the terminal commands for you and give you all of the visual information I mention above.
Terminology Notes – the actual technology and language is called “Git” – GitHub and BitBucket are repository places online, and GitHub Desktop and SourceTree are local software you install on your computer to make it easier to interact with your repository once it is on either GitHub or BitBucket.
About:
https://git-scm.com/book/ms/v2/Getting-Started-About-Version-Control
https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/what-is-version-control
Get Started:
https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/setting-up-a-repository (video included)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oaj3RBIoGFc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9u2yZvsqHA
GitHub Desktop:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Dd7KRpKeaE
SourceTree:
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