4 ms·

Git is way too complicated for a solo developer. It's great for Linus' Linux code management - that doesn't mean it's great for every single developer situation

by tpmx 6y ago

Git is way too complicated for a solo developer. It's great for Linus' Linux code management - that doesn't mean it's great for every single developer situation. As a solo developer/potentially newbie, I think it's better to spend brain cycles on actually learning programming, than to learn the idiosyncrasies of some crazily complex tool like git.

offtop5 6y ago
git init git add . git commit . -m uh git push Doesn't look too hard to me. Particularly when I'm going to rewrite my system, I'll go ahead and check out a new Branch so I don't freak out when I break everything. Infact I tell a developer to learn git first. The only time git becomes an issue is when you have large binary objects, like with a video game. Git LFS is pain.
- tpmx 6y ago
  I figure it takes 3-4 weeks for a typical newbie developer to learn git in depth. That's too much compared to the benefits. Git is way too complex and the CLI is badly designed, especially for a solo developer. The crux with git is that you really do have to learn it in depth, if you want to be self-sufficent in the end.
  - golemiprague 6y ago
    Learning to commit and push doesn't take that long, that's enough to maintain history and backup, which is what most sole developers need from git in the beginning. Then you learn branch or diff for cases when you need it. Then when you need to revert back to some older version you learn that. Then when you need to automate deployments you learn a bit about tagging or some branch structure for development, bug fixing, deployment whatever. You don't have to learn it all from the beginning, you learn as you go, that's at least how it works for me. Then you might learn bits and pieces for one time use and forget it later because you don't need to use it again for a year. It is just the normal pace of learning git, you don't have to grok it all at once
  - offtop5 6y ago
    You can use GitHub when you're getting started. I found get to be an extremely useful tool when I needed to go back and look over some of the changes I made.
    - tpmx 6y ago
      No, that doesn't help much in understanding git to the level that you're self-sufficent.
      - offtop5 6y ago
        It's enough to back up your work and send the code to potential employers
  - SilverRed 6y ago
    >The crux with git is that you really do have to learn it in depth You don't though. I was using git for years at a 2 developer shop and I don't think I used anything but commit, pull, push, add. It was very trivial, never even made a branch. Then when I moved to a bigger place I had to learn about cherry-pick, revert, reset, bisect, checkout, etc but every single one of those things I learned was immensely useful.

by tpmx 6y ago

offtop5 6y ago

git init git add . git commit . -m uh git push Doesn't look too hard to me. Particularly when I'm going to rewrite my system, I'll go ahead and check out a new Branch so I don't freak out when I break everything. Infact I tell a developer to learn git first. The only time git becomes an issue is when you have large binary objects, like with a video game. Git LFS is pain.

tpmx 6y ago
I figure it takes 3-4 weeks for a typical newbie developer to learn git in depth. That's too much compared to the benefits. Git is way too complex and the CLI is badly designed, especially for a solo developer. The crux with git is that you really do have to learn it in depth, if you want to be self-sufficent in the end.
- golemiprague 6y ago
  Learning to commit and push doesn't take that long, that's enough to maintain history and backup, which is what most sole developers need from git in the beginning. Then you learn branch or diff for cases when you need it. Then when you need to revert back to some older version you learn that. Then when you need to automate deployments you learn a bit about tagging or some branch structure for development, bug fixing, deployment whatever. You don't have to learn it all from the beginning, you learn as you go, that's at least how it works for me. Then you might learn bits and pieces for one time use and forget it later because you don't need to use it again for a year. It is just the normal pace of learning git, you don't have to grok it all at once
- offtop5 6y ago
  You can use GitHub when you're getting started. I found get to be an extremely useful tool when I needed to go back and look over some of the changes I made.
  - tpmx 6y ago
    No, that doesn't help much in understanding git to the level that you're self-sufficent.
    - offtop5 6y ago
      It's enough to back up your work and send the code to potential employers
- SilverRed 6y ago
  >The crux with git is that you really do have to learn it in depth You don't though. I was using git for years at a 2 developer shop and I don't think I used anything but commit, pull, push, add. It was very trivial, never even made a branch. Then when I moved to a bigger place I had to learn about cherry-pick, revert, reset, bisect, checkout, etc but every single one of those things I learned was immensely useful.