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Maybe it's just my inherent bias towards command-line-based Git, but I have to wonder just how useful this is to Git newbies if a lot of their page is dedicated

Maybe it's just my inherent bias towards command-line-based Git, but I have to wonder just how useful this is to Git newbies if a lot of their page is dedicated to learning how to use Tower, especially with a 24-part video series.

nailer 10y ago
I imagine it's because the video series is introducing git itself, through Tower's UI. git is a bunch of concepts: commits, branches, tags, a staging area, rebasing, pushing, pulling, the reflog, etc. Provided a git client implements these concepts they're a fine way to learn git. Also note many (not you, just others I've met) 'I only use the command line' git users use git's inbuilt gitk GUI a bunch of the time. Sometimes it just helps to be able to see the branching in a real tree.
- rpedroso 10y ago
  For those who prefer CLI git: I've used gitk a fair bit, but lately I've been gravitating towards tig, which implements a tree view via ncurses.
  - amiraliakbari 10y ago
    I usually use git using command line and tig for the tree view and viewing changesets, but I really miss the commit feature of git plugin in JetBrain IDEs: editing while viewing the diff, full code highlight and lint in diff, easy selecting of files to cimmit, etc. Any alternatives for linux/atom?
    - WorldMaker 10y ago
      VSCode, maybe? VSCode's git support does fine for most of my needs and I think it covers the list of things you are looking for. Admittedly it is different enough from Atom that there would be a transition, but it runs on Linux.
- PascLeRasc 10y ago
  Thanks for the introduction to gitk! I had never heard of that but it's interesting.
tobidobi 10y ago
The learning platform on git-tower.com/learn also contains lots of content for learning Git on the command line (without Tower). This is true for both the 150-page book and the 24-part video series.
Derbasti 10y ago
While giving lectures on programming, I have found that teaching students to use the git command line is much more useful than teaching them some git GUI tool. That being said, only a few students really manage to get git after a semester. Most students just kind of muddle through with a few basic commands, and just copy and paste commands from the internet (or re-clone, and copy files over). Git is not easy to learn.
- chinhodado 10y ago
  git is definitely not easy to learn, especially to those who are new to version control. You need to know at least a dozen terms (repo commit push pull fetch clone stage stash fork pull-request etc.) before you can even get a basic understanding of what git is.
Stratoscope 10y ago
I wouldn't assume that Git GUIs are mainly for beginners. (I'm not saying you're assuming that, but I do know a few people who've made that assumption.) I've been using Git for years and know the command line well enough, but I greatly prefer a good GUI. The reason, even more than not having to memorize commands, is that it gives much more visibility into the state of the repo. Instead of having to poke around with different commands to suss things out, it's all right there before my eyes. I'm currently using SmartGit. Friends have told me Tower is even better, but I needed something that ran on Windows as well as Mac. SmartGit also supports Linux, but my Linux work is pretty much always in a VM, and I'm fine with keeping source code on the host Windows or Mac system and running Git there. So will definitely check out Tower now. Just a couple of examples of where SmartGit outshines the command line - I would guess that Tower has similar features: • I accidentally commit something to the wrong branch. On the command line, it takes a series of git commands like reset, stash, checkout the other branch, pop the stash, add the files again, and finally commit to the correct branch. In SmartGit I just go to the log view and drag the branch markers to where I want them, and it does all that stuff automatically. • I mess up a rebase or the like and want to get back to some previous state - but now I'm not even sure which "lost" commit will be the good one. The command line provides the reflog, where I can look up hashes for previous commits. Then I can copy the hashes and checkout those commits one by one until I find the one I want. In SmartGit I just click the "Recyclable Commits" checkbox, and now everything in the reflog shows up as part of the normal log view just like any other commit. I can cursor up and down through the log and it lists the changed files for each commit. I can click any of those files and immediately see the diff. All of this is without having to do any temporary checkouts. When I find the commit I want, I just add a branch there or move a branch label to it, and now it's part of the normal history again. Same for stashes: if I have some saved stashes I can view them as part of the normal log too. I really like this seamless integration of concepts that otherwise involve multiple steps or a completely different methodology like the reflog. Anyway, glad to hear Tower is on Windows now - will definitely take a look at it!
bbrik 10y ago
I like doing everything but committing through the command line. I like committing with a GUI tool because i think it's easier to double check what you are committing before doing so.

nailer 10y ago

I imagine it's because the video series is introducing git itself, through Tower's UI. git is a bunch of concepts: commits, branches, tags, a staging area, rebasing, pushing, pulling, the reflog, etc. Provided a git client implements these concepts they're a fine way to learn git. Also note many (not you, just others I've met) 'I only use the command line' git users use git's inbuilt gitk GUI a bunch of the time. Sometimes it just helps to be able to see the branching in a real tree.

rpedroso 10y ago
For those who prefer CLI git: I've used gitk a fair bit, but lately I've been gravitating towards tig, which implements a tree view via ncurses.
- amiraliakbari 10y ago
  I usually use git using command line and tig for the tree view and viewing changesets, but I really miss the commit feature of git plugin in JetBrain IDEs: editing while viewing the diff, full code highlight and lint in diff, easy selecting of files to cimmit, etc. Any alternatives for linux/atom?
  - WorldMaker 10y ago
    VSCode, maybe? VSCode's git support does fine for most of my needs and I think it covers the list of things you are looking for. Admittedly it is different enough from Atom that there would be a transition, but it runs on Linux.
PascLeRasc 10y ago
Thanks for the introduction to gitk! I had never heard of that but it's interesting.

tobidobi 10y ago

The learning platform on git-tower.com/learn also contains lots of content for learning Git on the command line (without Tower). This is true for both the 150-page book and the 24-part video series.

Derbasti 10y ago

While giving lectures on programming, I have found that teaching students to use the git command line is much more useful than teaching them some git GUI tool. That being said, only a few students really manage to get git after a semester. Most students just kind of muddle through with a few basic commands, and just copy and paste commands from the internet (or re-clone, and copy files over). Git is not easy to learn.

chinhodado 10y ago
git is definitely not easy to learn, especially to those who are new to version control. You need to know at least a dozen terms (repo commit push pull fetch clone stage stash fork pull-request etc.) before you can even get a basic understanding of what git is.

Stratoscope 10y ago

I wouldn't assume that Git GUIs are mainly for beginners. (I'm not saying you're assuming that, but I do know a few people who've made that assumption.) I've been using Git for years and know the command line well enough, but I greatly prefer a good GUI. The reason, even more than not having to memorize commands, is that it gives much more visibility into the state of the repo. Instead of having to poke around with different commands to suss things out, it's all right there before my eyes. I'm currently using SmartGit. Friends have told me Tower is even better, but I needed something that ran on Windows as well as Mac. SmartGit also supports Linux, but my Linux work is pretty much always in a VM, and I'm fine with keeping source code on the host Windows or Mac system and running Git there. So will definitely check out Tower now. Just a couple of examples of where SmartGit outshines the command line - I would guess that Tower has similar features: • I accidentally commit something to the wrong branch. On the command line, it takes a series of git commands like reset, stash, checkout the other branch, pop the stash, add the files again, and finally commit to the correct branch. In SmartGit I just go to the log view and drag the branch markers to where I want them, and it does all that stuff automatically. • I mess up a rebase or the like and want to get back to some previous state - but now I'm not even sure which "lost" commit will be the good one. The command line provides the reflog, where I can look up hashes for previous commits. Then I can copy the hashes and checkout those commits one by one until I find the one I want. In SmartGit I just click the "Recyclable Commits" checkbox, and now everything in the reflog shows up as part of the normal log view just like any other commit. I can cursor up and down through the log and it lists the changed files for each commit. I can click any of those files and immediately see the diff. All of this is without having to do any temporary checkouts. When I find the commit I want, I just add a branch there or move a branch label to it, and now it's part of the normal history again. Same for stashes: if I have some saved stashes I can view them as part of the normal log too. I really like this seamless integration of concepts that otherwise involve multiple steps or a completely different methodology like the reflog. Anyway, glad to hear Tower is on Windows now - will definitely take a look at it!

bbrik 10y ago

I like doing everything but committing through the command line. I like committing with a GUI tool because i think it's easier to double check what you are committing before doing so.