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So, in the end it worked on a file. :-)

• djacobs 15y ago
  It worked on a branch, filtered by a file name. I think that's an important distinction. That distinction unifies the definition of `git checkout`.
  • adamc 15y ago
    But But it doesn't lead to an obvious, consistent command syntax, and that was the point.
    • djacobs 15y ago
      It's a consistent syntax with smart defaults you can leave out. You wouldn't say Unix's wc is inconsistent, would you, just because it has default behavior?
      • phillmv 15y ago
        Apples to Oranges. wc is a bad example. Better example is tar vs cp, where you go cp files you want to copy destination/ and tar destination.tar files you want to archive And yes, I would say that's inconsistent.
        • gcb 15y ago
          hum... both are wrong. wc is "word count" it's not a sane default. it's a obviously explicitly behavior. if git checkout were called 'git checkbranch' then you would have a point. tar does not have sane defaults. it requires explicit flags. your example (besides not working because as i said, it does not have defaults) could very well be `tar -c files you want to copy -f destination.tar` and all would be well. you actually still repeat the very first tar command line example you ever saw to this day, even not agreeing with it :)