Git

Git is a distributed version control system that tracks changes in files and coordinates work on those files among multiple people. Originally developed by Linus Torvalds for Linux kernel development, Git enables developers to manage code versions, collaborate on projects, and maintain a complete history of changes. It's essential for web data scraping projects, data extraction scripts, and any software development where code needs to be tracked, shared, and deployed reliably.HTTP notifications from one application to another when specific events occur, enabling event-driven communication between systems. Unlike traditional APIs where clients must repeatedly poll servers for updates, webhooks use a "push" model where the source system automatically delivers data to a predetermined endpoint URL whenever triggered events happen. This approach enables instant data synchronization, workflow automation, and real-time integrations across web services, making webhooks essential for modern application architectures and data pipelines.

Also known as: Distributed version control system, Git VCS, source control system.

Comparisons

Git vs. SVN: Git is distributed with each developer having a complete copy of the project history, while SVN (Subversion) is centralized with a single repository server that all developers must connect to.
API Polling: API polling requires clients to repeatedly request updates at intervals, while webhooks automatically push data when events occur, reducing unnecessary network traffic and improving real-time responsiveness.
Git vs. GitHub: Git is the version control system itself, while GitHub is a cloud-based hosting service that provides Git repositories along with collaboration features like issue tracking and pull requests.
WebSockets: WebSockets maintain persistent bidirectional connections for continuous communication, whereas webhooks establish temporary connections only when events trigger notifications.
Git vs. File Backup: Git tracks specific changes and allows merging of concurrent modifications, while simple file backup creates point-in-time copies without understanding code relationships or enabling collaborative development.

Pros

Distributed workflow: Every developer has a complete copy of the project history, enabling offline work and reducing dependency on central servers.
Branching and merging: Powerful branching capabilities allow parallel development of features without conflicts, essential for complex scraping projects.
Change tracking: Detailed commit history helps identify when bugs were introduced and enables easy rollback of problematic changes.
Scalable integration: Multiple developers can work on scraping scripts simultaneously with sophisticated merge conflict resolution.

Cons

Learning curve: Git's extensive command set and concepts like branches, merges, and rebases can be overwhelming for beginners.
Storage overhead: Keeping complete project history can consume significant disk space for large codebases with binary files.
Complexity for simple projects: Small scripts or single-developer projects may not benefit from Git's full feature set.
Merge conflicts: When multiple developers modify the same code sections, resolving conflicts requires manual intervention and understanding of the changes.

Example

An e-commerce analytics platform monitors competitor pricing changes by integrating with a web scraper API service that provides webhook notifications. Instead of constantly polling for updates, they configure the scraping service to send webhook notifications whenever product prices change on monitored websites. When the scraper detects a price drop using residential proxies, it immediately sends an HTTP POST request to the analytics platform's webhook endpoint with the updated pricing data. The platform processes this real-time notification through their data pipeline, triggers pricing alerts to clients, and updates their competitive intelligence dashboard—all within seconds of the actual price change occurring on the competitor's website.