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The only git tutorial that worked for me is the exact opposite. It even warns you > you can only really use Git if you understand how Git works. Merely memoriz

by chx 3y ago

The only git tutorial that worked for me is the exact opposite. It even warns you > you can only really use Git if you understand how Git works. Merely memorizing which commands you should run at what times will work in the short run, but it’s only a matter of time before you get stuck or, worse, break something. https://www.cduan.com/technical/git/ https://www.cduan.com/technical/git/ this tutorial was an absolute revelation for me. I can't recommend it strongly enough. Ps: I also found git destroying my work via git reset to be really annoying so I built a safety net. https://gist.github.com/chx/85db0ebed1e02ab14b1a65b6024dea29 https://gist.github.com/chx/85db0ebed1e02ab14b1a65b6024dea29

deleted 3y ago
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yencabulator 3y ago
You might enjoy https://eagain.net/articles/git-for-computer-scientists https://eagain.net/articles/git-for-computer-scientists
- chx 3y ago
  Not sure whether I count as a computer scientist, I only have a math teacher masters and half an information engineering degree, I dropped out. Even knowing graph theory and understanding git I still don't have the shortest idea what https://eagain.net/articles/git-for-computer-scientists/git-storage.2.dot.svg https://eagain.net/articles/git-for-computer-scientists/git-... this even wants this to be.
  - yencabulator 3y ago
    A tree can point to other trees, making them subdirectories. A tree can point to blobs, making them files in that directory. File name, mode and such metadata is a property of the edge, and blobs themselves are nameless containers of bytes.
Quekid5 3y ago
This is so true. Understand what git is truly about, namely a particular kind of Graph and how to apply changes across those.
seba_dos1 3y ago
Exactly. Learning by examples is the worst way to learn git - which sucks for people who learn best by examples, but that's how it is. You often hear people complaining about git's UX - and I agree that it could be much better, though I'd say its main sin is that it almost actively tries to confuse you into developing wrong mental models on how it works (somewhat ironically, it often does it to provide better UX for those who already understand it). A very obvious example of that would be right there in `git show`, or the equivalent parts of GitHub's and GitLab's UIs. A command that shows you the content of a commit, right? Well, right - it does show you the author, date, commit message... but then it also shows a diff. So, being a beginner who learns by examples, you say - I get it! A commit is a patch! It gets me from one state of the repo to another! Except you couldn't be more wrong. `git show` automatically calculated a difference between the requested commit and its parent to present it to you, but didn't bother to tell you that. Of course, it makes perfect sense - it wouldn't be very useful to show a complete state of the files under the commit in question, it's much more useful to show a diff against its parent(s). However, it doesn't even tell you which commit the diff was calculated against, it's completely hidden by default. How are you supposed to develop a proper mental model of total basics such as "what is a commit" if it hides such essential clues from you? Answer: you need to read up on the theory. There's no way around it, at least not now.

by chx 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

yencabulator 3y ago

You might enjoy https://eagain.net/articles/git-for-computer-scientists https://eagain.net/articles/git-for-computer-scientists

chx 3y ago
Not sure whether I count as a computer scientist, I only have a math teacher masters and half an information engineering degree, I dropped out. Even knowing graph theory and understanding git I still don't have the shortest idea what https://eagain.net/articles/git-for-computer-scientists/git-storage.2.dot.svg https://eagain.net/articles/git-for-computer-scientists/git-... this even wants this to be.
- yencabulator 3y ago
  A tree can point to other trees, making them subdirectories. A tree can point to blobs, making them files in that directory. File name, mode and such metadata is a property of the edge, and blobs themselves are nameless containers of bytes.

Quekid5 3y ago

This is so true. Understand what git is truly about, namely a particular kind of Graph and how to apply changes across those.

seba_dos1 3y ago

Exactly. Learning by examples is the worst way to learn git - which sucks for people who learn best by examples, but that's how it is. You often hear people complaining about git's UX - and I agree that it could be much better, though I'd say its main sin is that it almost actively tries to confuse you into developing wrong mental models on how it works (somewhat ironically, it often does it to provide better UX for those who already understand it). A very obvious example of that would be right there in `git show`, or the equivalent parts of GitHub's and GitLab's UIs. A command that shows you the content of a commit, right? Well, right - it does show you the author, date, commit message... but then it also shows a diff. So, being a beginner who learns by examples, you say - I get it! A commit is a patch! It gets me from one state of the repo to another! Except you couldn't be more wrong. `git show` automatically calculated a difference between the requested commit and its parent to present it to you, but didn't bother to tell you that. Of course, it makes perfect sense - it wouldn't be very useful to show a complete state of the files under the commit in question, it's much more useful to show a diff against its parent(s). However, it doesn't even tell you which commit the diff was calculated against, it's completely hidden by default. How are you supposed to develop a proper mental model of total basics such as "what is a commit" if it hides such essential clues from you? Answer: you need to read up on the theory. There's no way around it, at least not now.