7 ms·

Review of James Coglan’s Building Git

49 points by teleforce 4y ago

tessierashpool 4y ago
First real paragraph contains false or at least misleading information. then a venture backed startup created a web application and support structure for the git program called GitHub (a web application and support structure that was mostly separate from the git project) and sold themselves to Microsoft for seven and a half billion dollars in stock. GitHub didn’t get involved with VC until they had already completely captured the market. They were a bootstrapped, remote-first startup which later became venture-backed. Decent review overall, excellent book, but when they created the “web application and support structure for the git program,” they were not yet venture-backed.
- suddenclarity 4y ago
  You raise a valid point. Seems the development started in 2007 and the site launched in 2008, only funded by the founders. It wasn't until 2012 they received their first investment if Wikipedia is to be trusted.
  - js2 4y ago
    First round of funding discussed here on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4220353 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4220353
wanderlust123 4y ago
Any similar types of project based books?
- suddenclarity 4y ago
  *
  - herbstein 4y ago
    They're not at _all_ similar.
- mgdm 4y ago
  Perhaps Crafting Interpreters? https://craftinginterpreters.com/ https://craftinginterpreters.com/
  - rzzzt 4y ago
    Not a book but an "awesome list"-formatted collection that mentions Crafting Interpreters: https://github.com/codecrafters-io/build-your-own-x https://github.com/codecrafters-io/build-your-own-x (Discussed in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32157759 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32157759)
- thaliaarchi 4y ago
  From Nand to Tetris: Building a Computer from First Principles https://www.nand2tetris.org/ https://www.nand2tetris.org/
JohnMakin 4y ago
I don't know why people complain about git being hard to use. If you have a basic understanding of how branching works and aren't a complete dunce with CLI tools, it's very simple. It's also one of the best CLI's I've ever come across. People over complicate it - In 5 years now as a full time SWE I barely ever use commands other than the basic ones - git pull, git commit, git add/remove, git push, git merge. Occasionally annoying conflicts happen on merge that you can eyeball and fix fairly trivially.
- icedchai 4y ago
  Git is simple for you because you've been using it for so long. If you've worked with any junior people, you know a lot can go wrong. Recent small example: merge conflicts being committed.
- zaphar 4y ago
  I only need to reach for fancy git commands when a colleague come to me with a broken repo. How exactly they land in these situations is not always clear to me. But the frequency that it happens suggests something is confusing at least one segment of the user base.
- glenngillen 4y ago
  My version of the "git is hard to use" is because so much of it doesn't feel intuitive. I use it literally every day and can use the 5 commands you list with almost zero thought at all. They probably account for about 90% of my usage and everything is fine. But then... I need to fix a merge that has gone wrong, recover a commit that a mistakenly removed in a squash, delete a remote branch, undo a bisect that I mistakenly flagged as good/bad, or any number of the things that I've had to do multiple times that make up the other 10% of my usage. And absolutely none of them can I remember how to do, nor do I have any confidence that I could stumble onto the correct syntax. The interface just isn't ergonomic. And so I inevitably turn to google/stackoverflow. I can't think of any other examples of something I use so much where I have this problem. Conversely I had to use the Docker and Heroku CLIs recently, having used neither for probably a year or so, and managed to remember/stumble my way through pretty easily without the need to look up help or external sources.
- 4y ago
mgdm 4y ago
FWIW, the author's name is Coglan, not Cogland.
- dang 4y ago
  Fixed above. Thanks!
bla54321 4y ago
Love it and would buy but I don't know Ruby and I feel like it would take me too much work to learn ruby syntax to make it worth my while. Note: I think there should be a blurb somewhere on the sales page that it's written in Ruby, it was hard to figure that out.
- stefanos82 4y ago
  No need to worry about Ruby language; it's in Appendix and covers pretty much what you need to know. https://shop.jcoglan.com/building-git/contents.pdf https://shop.jcoglan.com/building-git/contents.pdf
joeatwork 4y ago
I wish there were more books in this mold (reimplementing interesting or foundational systems in ways intended for humans to read and understand). I feel the like systems that would admit this sort of thing are important systems. I’d love to see this done with (for example) a Smalltalk image and interpreter, or a simplified network stack.
- twh270 4y ago
  It's not quite the same thing, but The Architecture of Open Source Programs (https://aosabook.org/en/index.html https://aosabook.org/en/index.html) has a wealth of knowledge that is well worth exploring.
- igouy 4y ago
  Well — "Chapter 26 described the function of the Smalltalk virtual machine, which consists of an interpreter and an object memory. This chapter and the next three present a more formal specification of these two parts of the virtual machine. Most implementations of the virtual machine will be written in machine language or microcode. However, for specification purposes, these chapters will present an implementation of the virtual machine in Smalltalk itself. While this is a somewhat circular proposition, every attempt has been made to ensure that no details are hidden as a result." p568 "Smalltalk-80: The Language and Its implementation" 1983 https://rmod-files.lille.inria.fr/FreeBooks/BlueBook/Bluebook.pdf https://rmod-files.lille.inria.fr/FreeBooks/BlueBook/Blueboo... "To check the accuracy and the clarity of the first book, we invited a number of groups outside of Xerox to build implementations of the Smalltalk-80 system. Those groups uncovered problems with the written description, and with the system itself, which we then corrected. … Paul McCullough of Tektronix suggested that all of the implementors submit papers describing their experiences to a software engineering journal or to collect papers from each group into a book form. This book, then, is the outcome of that suggestion." iv Preface "Smalltalk-80, Bits of History, Words of Advice" 1983 https://rmod-files.lille.inria.fr/FreeBooks/BitsOfHistory/BitsOfHistory.pdf https://rmod-files.lille.inria.fr/FreeBooks/BitsOfHistory/Bi...
  - joeatwork 4y ago
    This is magical! Thank you!
Uthreddeborah 4y ago
This will serve to protect millions of users. Upon contacting SPAMMER ROOTKITS recovery, I was shocked and amazed to learn that SPAMMER ROOTKITS Recovery had assisted me in recovering my account, which I had lost to fictitious online investors. I had seen a slew of people who have commented about SPAMMER ROOTKITS Recovery, and I kept wondering if they were truly an expert and not a scammer like the others. I'm really delighted to share this story with you all, and if your BTC trading account has been compromised, you can also get in touch with them (spammer@fastservice.com) or (+351920258835).

49 points by teleforce 4y ago

First real paragraph contains false or at least misleading information. then a venture backed startup created a web application and support structure for the git program called GitHub (a web application and support structure that was mostly separate from the git project) and sold themselves to Microsoft for seven and a half billion dollars in stock. GitHub didn’t get involved with VC until they had already completely captured the market. They were a bootstrapped, remote-first startup which later became venture-backed. Decent review overall, excellent book, but when they created the “web application and support structure for the git program,” they were not yet venture-backed.

suddenclarity 4y ago
You raise a valid point. Seems the development started in 2007 and the site launched in 2008, only funded by the founders. It wasn't until 2012 they received their first investment if Wikipedia is to be trusted.
- js2 4y ago
  First round of funding discussed here on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4220353 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4220353

wanderlust123 4y ago

Any similar types of project based books?

suddenclarity 4y ago
*
- herbstein 4y ago
  They're not at _all_ similar.
mgdm 4y ago
Perhaps Crafting Interpreters? https://craftinginterpreters.com/ https://craftinginterpreters.com/
- rzzzt 4y ago
  Not a book but an "awesome list"-formatted collection that mentions Crafting Interpreters: https://github.com/codecrafters-io/build-your-own-x https://github.com/codecrafters-io/build-your-own-x (Discussed in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32157759 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32157759)
thaliaarchi 4y ago
From Nand to Tetris: Building a Computer from First Principles https://www.nand2tetris.org/ https://www.nand2tetris.org/

JohnMakin 4y ago

I don't know why people complain about git being hard to use. If you have a basic understanding of how branching works and aren't a complete dunce with CLI tools, it's very simple. It's also one of the best CLI's I've ever come across. People over complicate it - In 5 years now as a full time SWE I barely ever use commands other than the basic ones - git pull, git commit, git add/remove, git push, git merge. Occasionally annoying conflicts happen on merge that you can eyeball and fix fairly trivially.

icedchai 4y ago
Git is simple for you because you've been using it for so long. If you've worked with any junior people, you know a lot can go wrong. Recent small example: merge conflicts being committed.
zaphar 4y ago
I only need to reach for fancy git commands when a colleague come to me with a broken repo. How exactly they land in these situations is not always clear to me. But the frequency that it happens suggests something is confusing at least one segment of the user base.
glenngillen 4y ago
My version of the "git is hard to use" is because so much of it doesn't feel intuitive. I use it literally every day and can use the 5 commands you list with almost zero thought at all. They probably account for about 90% of my usage and everything is fine. But then... I need to fix a merge that has gone wrong, recover a commit that a mistakenly removed in a squash, delete a remote branch, undo a bisect that I mistakenly flagged as good/bad, or any number of the things that I've had to do multiple times that make up the other 10% of my usage. And absolutely none of them can I remember how to do, nor do I have any confidence that I could stumble onto the correct syntax. The interface just isn't ergonomic. And so I inevitably turn to google/stackoverflow. I can't think of any other examples of something I use so much where I have this problem. Conversely I had to use the Docker and Heroku CLIs recently, having used neither for probably a year or so, and managed to remember/stumble my way through pretty easily without the need to look up help or external sources.
4y ago

mgdm 4y ago

FWIW, the author's name is Coglan, not Cogland.

dang 4y ago
Fixed above. Thanks!

bla54321 4y ago

Love it and would buy but I don't know Ruby and I feel like it would take me too much work to learn ruby syntax to make it worth my while. Note: I think there should be a blurb somewhere on the sales page that it's written in Ruby, it was hard to figure that out.

stefanos82 4y ago
No need to worry about Ruby language; it's in Appendix and covers pretty much what you need to know. https://shop.jcoglan.com/building-git/contents.pdf https://shop.jcoglan.com/building-git/contents.pdf

joeatwork 4y ago

I wish there were more books in this mold (reimplementing interesting or foundational systems in ways intended for humans to read and understand). I feel the like systems that would admit this sort of thing are important systems. I’d love to see this done with (for example) a Smalltalk image and interpreter, or a simplified network stack.

twh270 4y ago
It's not quite the same thing, but The Architecture of Open Source Programs (https://aosabook.org/en/index.html https://aosabook.org/en/index.html) has a wealth of knowledge that is well worth exploring.
igouy 4y ago
Well — "Chapter 26 described the function of the Smalltalk virtual machine, which consists of an interpreter and an object memory. This chapter and the next three present a more formal specification of these two parts of the virtual machine. Most implementations of the virtual machine will be written in machine language or microcode. However, for specification purposes, these chapters will present an implementation of the virtual machine in Smalltalk itself. While this is a somewhat circular proposition, every attempt has been made to ensure that no details are hidden as a result." p568 "Smalltalk-80: The Language and Its implementation" 1983 https://rmod-files.lille.inria.fr/FreeBooks/BlueBook/Bluebook.pdf https://rmod-files.lille.inria.fr/FreeBooks/BlueBook/Blueboo... "To check the accuracy and the clarity of the first book, we invited a number of groups outside of Xerox to build implementations of the Smalltalk-80 system. Those groups uncovered problems with the written description, and with the system itself, which we then corrected. … Paul McCullough of Tektronix suggested that all of the implementors submit papers describing their experiences to a software engineering journal or to collect papers from each group into a book form. This book, then, is the outcome of that suggestion." iv Preface "Smalltalk-80, Bits of History, Words of Advice" 1983 https://rmod-files.lille.inria.fr/FreeBooks/BitsOfHistory/BitsOfHistory.pdf https://rmod-files.lille.inria.fr/FreeBooks/BitsOfHistory/Bi...
- joeatwork 4y ago
  This is magical! Thank you!

Uthreddeborah 4y ago

This will serve to protect millions of users. Upon contacting SPAMMER ROOTKITS recovery, I was shocked and amazed to learn that SPAMMER ROOTKITS Recovery had assisted me in recovering my account, which I had lost to fictitious online investors. I had seen a slew of people who have commented about SPAMMER ROOTKITS Recovery, and I kept wondering if they were truly an expert and not a scammer like the others. I'm really delighted to share this story with you all, and if your BTC trading account has been compromised, you can also get in touch with them (spammer@fastservice.com) or (+351920258835).