Cheap branching and merging are the two most well known and applauded features of Git. In this chapter we shall see what branching is, why you need a branch, and when you need a branch. And since we have already tried our hand at merging, having used it to merge two files for solving a merge conflict in Chapter 6, Unleash the Beast – Git on Text-based Files, we shall go one step ahead and see how to merge branches when needed.
All these are explored from an organization's point of view. We will also learn and practice methods to simplify our work by:
Creating simple alias for frequently used lengthy commands
Chaining of multiple commands for frequently used workflows