Explore the intricacies of Git's index in this comprehensive ACCU 2017 conference talk by Charles Bailey. Delve into the history and purpose of the index, understanding its role as a core component of Git since its inception. Learn to differentiate between the index's interface and implementation details, gaining insights into its power and functionality. Examine the evolution of terminology surrounding the index, including "cache" and "staging area." Discover essential features of the modern Git index, separating crucial knowledge for beginners from advanced implementation benefits. Master practical index manipulation techniques, including the use of plumbing commands like read-tree, update-index, and checkout-index. Explore the advantages of using an alternate index with GIT_INDEX_FILE and learn about the performance benefits of filter-branch's --index-filter. Gain a deeper understanding of Git attributes, reset functionality, clearing the index, and working with mono repositories. Enhance your Git skills by mastering concepts such as assume-unchanged, skip work tree, and path check out, ultimately improving your version control workflow and efficiency. Read more