> For convenience, it will also update the HEAD ref if you check out the full contents of a branch. And updates the index. And sometimes it gets files from th

> For convenience, it will also update the HEAD ref if you check out the full contents of a branch. And updates the index. And sometimes it gets files from the index instead of a commit. From a workflow perspective, "switch to working on a different branch", "copy some files into the working tree from a different commit", and "resolve all merge conflicts in this file in favor of 'ours' or 'theirs'" are three very different operations. From a low-level perspective they're somewhat similar, but not the same.