This is perhaps too few words to elucidate git. I appreciate that Ms. Cook links to other articles on her own site that go into much greater detail. However, I still think the best self-contained and relatively brief explanation of Git is "The Git Parable."[1]
In fact, the Git Parable specifically addresses this articles approach to teaching git in the introduction:
"Most people try to teach Git by demonstrating a few dozen commands and then yelling “tadaaaaa.” I believe this method is flawed. Such a treatment may leave you with the ability to use Git to perform simple tasks, but the Git commands will still feel like magical incantations. Doing anything out of the ordinary will be terrifying."
Makes the 600 words achievement seem less impressive, if you put it in the context of existing git education.
I can't agree with this. The 600 word article explicitly does not simply demonstrate some commands and go "tadaaaa". Quite the contrary, it demonstrates some commands and explains how they work, a very impressive achievement for something so terse.
[1] http://tom.preston-werner.com/2009/05/19/the-git-parable.htm...