5 ms·

A Guided Tour through the Fundamentals of Git

196 points by benackles 15y ago

xer0x 15y ago
I love how this doesn't just stop with the basics. It keeps going and builds up to some really great specifics.
apsurd 15y ago
Very nicely designed. Regarding the table of contents, it took a while to realize the text was clickable. Also I would prefer the arrows to show what they go to. For example "up next: Checking Status" I don't know whether that would break the design, but it makes it more usable in a motivating sort of way, "oh boy committing is next!" All in all, I agree with the learn by doing, so very nice job and thanks for all the good work!
- eblume 15y ago
  I agree on all parts - a clickable 'up next' link on the top right, and also a clickable 'previously you learned' link on the top left. Wording should change to fit the layout, of course. Also some sort of hint that the ToC is clickable, I didn't realize that at first either. Also, it strikes me that the entire guide should be put on GitHub - did I miss somewhere where it says it is? All in all this is a great resource along the lines of http://hginit.com/ http://hginit.com/ - which is useful, because the mostly brain-dead students at my university tend to take FOREVER to learn DVCSs. I can't tell you how many times I've had to explain that you really only need to 'git clone' once unless you are checking to make sure you got everything 'right' with the push. Now instead I'll just point people at this.
tunnuz 15y ago
Very nice, though I would appreciate a clear "Next" button somewhere, and the table of content seems empty.
EdisonW 15y ago
Awesome intro! Guide looks amazing! Just a a few small things: the Install Git on Windows button on the home page should point to http://msysgit.github.com/ http://msysgit.github.com/ directly. Msysgit also comes with a GUI (that I personally appreciate that one more than tortoisegit).
JoshTriplett 15y ago
I found it really annoying that hitting 'l' or the right arrow took me to the next page; among other things, that meant that when I hit Ctrl-L to get to my address bar and copy the link, it advanced to the next page. A better interface for reading this tutorial: http://www.comic-rocket.com/go?uri=http%3A//gitimmersion.com/lab_01.html http://www.comic-rocket.com/go?uri=http%3A//gitimmersion.com...
gcb 15y ago
Stopped at 2 since it showed no mention as to why i should set those values. Also because on Android there was no way to continue past that page
- thyrsus 15y ago
  My reaction was: what havoc is this going to do? and spent 20 minutes learning what the issues were. The manual at http://gitmanual.org/git-config.html http://gitmanual.org/git-config.html doesn't say what the default is, but I feel safe in assuming the default is not to tamper with the original files. The git author's reputation inspires trust :-).
tkahn6 15y ago
I highly recommend biting the bullet and reading through Pro Git by Scott Chacon (from Github). http://progit.org/book/ http://progit.org/book/ It's about 200 pages but it really, really helped me internalize how git works. Each git feature/command is explained with a use case and a clear illustration of what's going on. The online version is free and it's available as a PDF, epub, and mobi.
- alinajaf 15y ago
  A thousand times yes. It's about as user-friendly a git resource you're going to get. I would recommend having progit open when reading the man pages. Git get's a lot of stick for having impenetrable documentation, but once you have have the vocab internalized it becomes a lot simpler.
- rufibarbatus 15y ago
  > The online version is free and it's available as a PDF, epub, and mobi. To disambiguate: ebook versions are also free (at least as of 2 minutes ago!).
conradfr 15y ago
This is the one that helped me starting with git.
hostyle 15y ago
It seems to leave out some important information. Eg. It refers to HEAD many times, but never seems to explain what this is? I can find out what this is easily enough elsewhere, but from my immersion so far I feel that it should be explained. I really like the site though and have bookmarked it for later, and I will definitely try out the rest of it. Well done and thanks.
Kiro 15y ago
It looks great but can someone give me a reason to learn this instead of just using the GUI?
- silasb 15y ago
  CLI is a first-class citizen, the GUI isn't. So when new features come out they will be on the CLI first.
  - steverb 15y ago
    I'll add that with the GUI you don't know exactly what GUI menus correspond to what Git commands, and therefore you can't be sure exactly what the behavior will be when you click that button. Frankly, after you've used git regularly for a week, you'll find that there are two or three commands that you use constantly and never have to think about, and a small set of other commands that you'll have to look up the first half dozen times you use them. Don't worry, git documentation is quite good.
rizzy 15y ago
This is what I used to learn and get started with Git. Helped me out tremendously. If you have never used Git before or any source control, so a complete beginner it gets you up and running quickly. I would love one of these expanded on for using and contributing to on Github.
Davertron 15y ago
How about instead of downloading a zip file I git clone the tutorial files from github (doesn't have to be github obviously but a git server of some kind). Seems like the natural way to go considering the topic.
- kuahyeow 15y ago
  :) That's what I did in my git Workshop for beginners. https://github.com/kuahyeow/git-workshop https://github.com/kuahyeow/git-workshop
- matt_yoho 15y ago
  A combination a bootstrapping issues (arguably minor, of course) and the minor complexity of building the package, plus the workshop-friendly approach contribute to the zip directory distribution method.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
ovechtrick 15y ago
really great. Anything like this for SVN?

196 points by benackles 15y ago

xer0x 15y ago

I love how this doesn't just stop with the basics. It keeps going and builds up to some really great specifics.

Very nicely designed. Regarding the table of contents, it took a while to realize the text was clickable. Also I would prefer the arrows to show what they go to. For example "up next: Checking Status" I don't know whether that would break the design, but it makes it more usable in a motivating sort of way, "oh boy committing is next!" All in all, I agree with the learn by doing, so very nice job and thanks for all the good work!

eblume 15y ago
I agree on all parts - a clickable 'up next' link on the top right, and also a clickable 'previously you learned' link on the top left. Wording should change to fit the layout, of course. Also some sort of hint that the ToC is clickable, I didn't realize that at first either. Also, it strikes me that the entire guide should be put on GitHub - did I miss somewhere where it says it is? All in all this is a great resource along the lines of http://hginit.com/ http://hginit.com/ - which is useful, because the mostly brain-dead students at my university tend to take FOREVER to learn DVCSs. I can't tell you how many times I've had to explain that you really only need to 'git clone' once unless you are checking to make sure you got everything 'right' with the push. Now instead I'll just point people at this.

tunnuz 15y ago

Very nice, though I would appreciate a clear "Next" button somewhere, and the table of content seems empty.

EdisonW 15y ago

Awesome intro! Guide looks amazing! Just a a few small things: the Install Git on Windows button on the home page should point to http://msysgit.github.com/ http://msysgit.github.com/ directly. Msysgit also comes with a GUI (that I personally appreciate that one more than tortoisegit).

JoshTriplett 15y ago

I found it really annoying that hitting 'l' or the right arrow took me to the next page; among other things, that meant that when I hit Ctrl-L to get to my address bar and copy the link, it advanced to the next page. A better interface for reading this tutorial: http://www.comic-rocket.com/go?uri=http%3A//gitimmersion.com/lab_01.html http://www.comic-rocket.com/go?uri=http%3A//gitimmersion.com...

gcb 15y ago

Stopped at 2 since it showed no mention as to why i should set those values. Also because on Android there was no way to continue past that page

thyrsus 15y ago
My reaction was: what havoc is this going to do? and spent 20 minutes learning what the issues were. The manual at http://gitmanual.org/git-config.html http://gitmanual.org/git-config.html doesn't say what the default is, but I feel safe in assuming the default is not to tamper with the original files. The git author's reputation inspires trust :-).

tkahn6 15y ago

I highly recommend biting the bullet and reading through Pro Git by Scott Chacon (from Github). http://progit.org/book/ http://progit.org/book/ It's about 200 pages but it really, really helped me internalize how git works. Each git feature/command is explained with a use case and a clear illustration of what's going on. The online version is free and it's available as a PDF, epub, and mobi.

alinajaf 15y ago
A thousand times yes. It's about as user-friendly a git resource you're going to get. I would recommend having progit open when reading the man pages. Git get's a lot of stick for having impenetrable documentation, but once you have have the vocab internalized it becomes a lot simpler.
rufibarbatus 15y ago
> The online version is free and it's available as a PDF, epub, and mobi. To disambiguate: ebook versions are also free (at least as of 2 minutes ago!).

conradfr 15y ago

This is the one that helped me starting with git.

hostyle 15y ago

It seems to leave out some important information. Eg. It refers to HEAD many times, but never seems to explain what this is? I can find out what this is easily enough elsewhere, but from my immersion so far I feel that it should be explained. I really like the site though and have bookmarked it for later, and I will definitely try out the rest of it. Well done and thanks.

Kiro 15y ago

It looks great but can someone give me a reason to learn this instead of just using the GUI?

silasb 15y ago
CLI is a first-class citizen, the GUI isn't. So when new features come out they will be on the CLI first.
- steverb 15y ago
  I'll add that with the GUI you don't know exactly what GUI menus correspond to what Git commands, and therefore you can't be sure exactly what the behavior will be when you click that button. Frankly, after you've used git regularly for a week, you'll find that there are two or three commands that you use constantly and never have to think about, and a small set of other commands that you'll have to look up the first half dozen times you use them. Don't worry, git documentation is quite good.

rizzy 15y ago

This is what I used to learn and get started with Git. Helped me out tremendously. If you have never used Git before or any source control, so a complete beginner it gets you up and running quickly. I would love one of these expanded on for using and contributing to on Github.

Davertron 15y ago

How about instead of downloading a zip file I git clone the tutorial files from github (doesn't have to be github obviously but a git server of some kind). Seems like the natural way to go considering the topic.

kuahyeow 15y ago
:) That's what I did in my git Workshop for beginners. https://github.com/kuahyeow/git-workshop https://github.com/kuahyeow/git-workshop
matt_yoho 15y ago
A combination a bootstrapping issues (arguably minor, of course) and the minor complexity of building the package, plus the workshop-friendly approach contribute to the zip directory distribution method.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

ovechtrick 15y ago

really great. Anything like this for SVN?