3 ms·

I think git is hard because 99% of the time it just works with little to no required understanding of what you are actually doing. That is to say that git is ac

I think git is hard because 99% of the time it just works with little to no required understanding of what you are actually doing. That is to say that git is actually too easy... until it isn't. Once you hit a scenario where you get off the happy path, that is when git becomes hard.

dkarl 4y ago
There's a lot of truth to this. Every company I worked at before git, branching was an advanced operation and merging was a wizard operation. You'd have a few senior developers (not even all the senior developers) who were confident branching and merging, and everybody else would go to them to ask their permission (seriously!) to create a branch. Merges were planned days or weeks in advance. Then I went to a company that was using git, and all the developers regardless of seniority were working on their own branches, rebasing from develop, merging their own changes, and complaining about how hard it was!
robofanatic 4y ago
> That is to say that git is actually too easy ... until it isn't. 100% true. I am one of those devs who never got any formal training on git or was never motivated to RTFM or even WTFYV (watch the f***g youtube video). I simply started using it and many times ended on StackOverflow when I was stuck. For a very long time I didn't know that you can create a new branch anytime. I used to make a bunch of changes locally only to realize later that I was in the main develop branch. To "fix" it, I used to copy everything to a temp folder, do a "git stash", then do "git checkout -b newbranch" and redo my changes.
- dkarl 4y ago
  > RTFM or even WTFYV (watch the f**g youtube video) For anyone wondering, a great FV if you feel like you are using git without understanding the fundamentals is Git For Ages 4 and Up [0]. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m7BgIvC-uQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m7BgIvC-uQ
- athorax 4y ago
  I can't tell you how many times I'd gzip a project before trying something in git just in case lol. Then I finally took the time and learned how to actually use it correctly
nobleach 4y ago
This reminds me of when I consulted with a company that wanted to use Rails as their backend. Rails made it incredibly easy to get database results on a web page. Too easy. They spent the next several months certain that they could "wing it" and still keep developing features. The harsh truth is, they needed to understand what was going on underneath all that "magic". Thankfully they took my advice and hired some Ruby devs. Probably a lot of us can fall into this trap. We do the same 3 steps day in and day out and are lulled into the belief that we "know the system". Until, like you mention, we fall off the happy path.

dkarl 4y ago

There's a lot of truth to this. Every company I worked at before git, branching was an advanced operation and merging was a wizard operation. You'd have a few senior developers (not even all the senior developers) who were confident branching and merging, and everybody else would go to them to ask their permission (seriously!) to create a branch. Merges were planned days or weeks in advance. Then I went to a company that was using git, and all the developers regardless of seniority were working on their own branches, rebasing from develop, merging their own changes, and complaining about how hard it was!

robofanatic 4y ago

> That is to say that git is actually too easy ... until it isn't. 100% true. I am one of those devs who never got any formal training on git or was never motivated to RTFM or even WTFYV (watch the f***g youtube video). I simply started using it and many times ended on StackOverflow when I was stuck. For a very long time I didn't know that you can create a new branch anytime. I used to make a bunch of changes locally only to realize later that I was in the main develop branch. To "fix" it, I used to copy everything to a temp folder, do a "git stash", then do "git checkout -b newbranch" and redo my changes.

dkarl 4y ago
> RTFM or even WTFYV (watch the f**g youtube video) For anyone wondering, a great FV if you feel like you are using git without understanding the fundamentals is Git For Ages 4 and Up [0]. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m7BgIvC-uQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m7BgIvC-uQ
athorax 4y ago
I can't tell you how many times I'd gzip a project before trying something in git just in case lol. Then I finally took the time and learned how to actually use it correctly

nobleach 4y ago

This reminds me of when I consulted with a company that wanted to use Rails as their backend. Rails made it incredibly easy to get database results on a web page. Too easy. They spent the next several months certain that they could "wing it" and still keep developing features. The harsh truth is, they needed to understand what was going on underneath all that "magic". Thankfully they took my advice and hired some Ruby devs. Probably a lot of us can fall into this trap. We do the same 3 steps day in and day out and are lulled into the belief that we "know the system". Until, like you mention, we fall off the happy path.