Name: Version control with Git
ISBN: 9781449316389

Version control with Git

Version Control with Git takes you step-by-step through ways to track, merge, and manage software projects, using this highly flexible, open source version control system. Git permits virtually an infinite variety of methods for development and collaboration. Created by Linus Torvalds to manage development of the Linux kernel, it's become the principal tool for distributed version control. But Git's flexibility also means that some users don't understand how to use it to their best advantage. Version Control with Git offers tutorials on the most effective ways to use it, as well as friendly yet rigorous advice to help you navigate Git's many functions. With this book, you will: Learn how to use Git in several real-world development environments; Gain insight into Git's common-use cases, initial tasks, and basic functions; Understand how to use Git for both centralized and distributed version control; Use Git to manage patches, diffs, merges, and conflicts; Acquire advanced techniques such as rebasing, hooks, and ways to handle submodules (subprojects); Learn how to use Git with Subversion. - Publisher.

What Hacker News says

lqetMar 2025

I also struggled with Git many years ago. Then I read the excellent "Version Control with Git" in 2014. Never looked back. It does an excellent job in connecting the Git commands to various basic operation on the commit graph.

[0] https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/version-control-with/97...

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breckSep 2024

> ensure their work isn't stolen in their highly competitive industry.

If you published your work online backed by git with hashes with a free public service like GitHub, how could someone steal it?

If you are an academic and don't know git, why can't you pick up "Version Control with Git" from your library or buy a used copy for $5 and spend a couple days to learn it?

> the goal is not to "move fast and break things,"

Who said that was the goal?

Why would you want to remain wrong longer?

If you want to move slower, why not take slower walks in the woods versus adding unnecessary bureaucracy?

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agomez314Jan 2023

I find that the practice of "software engineering" has a fuzzy distinction to "computer science." I highly recommend the following books that helped me out on that journey:

- Continuous Delivery by Jez Humble and Dave Farley

- The Pragmatic Programmer by Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas

- A History of Modern Computing by Paul E. Ceruzzi

- Version Control with Git by Prem Ponuthorai and Jon Loeliger

- and SICP. Understanding it is like accessing a new dimension of power.

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jdavis703Aug 2016

The only time I've wound up with a steaming mess was when I was first learning Git. I've been using it for 5 years now, and have done some pretty crazy things with it, and yet haven't screwed up the master branch since then. However to get to that point I had to read "Version Control with Git: Powerful Tools and Techniques for Collaborative Software Development" (this was after royally fucking up and not wanting to get fired).

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sethrinMar 2014

> Matter of fact is: the git UX is awful and it punishes everyone who doesn't have have a high level understanding of how the underlying persistence model works.

I believe this is true, but reading through a description of how the underlying persistence model works was for me a revelatory experience. This was presented together with a description of the precise problem git was designed to solve in the O'Reilly book, Version Control with Git. It seemed to be a problem solved in every particular -- an exact solution, that rarest of all things. I did struggle with git before I read about it, which is why I picked up the book in the first place. Since then I have convinced myself that any failures with git are due to my own deficiencies and not its, but my tasks with git are far from exotic; I rarely encounter any difficulties.

The value in the software is not so much the UX, which I consider acceptable (at least with aliases), but in the underlying data model. For me, it is a tool of daily use, and so the knowledge required to use it is a trivial investment. If we were discussing something other than a command-line tool, I think I might be more amenable to the argument that a simpler UX is a better one. With the CLI though, you pretty much need to know what you're doing before you attempt to do it, and any problems with the process are rarely considered UX issues.

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AlisdairOMay 2012

Depends on what you're into, but from the database angle:

Learning SQL is a really excellent intro, and probably covers the majority of what your average developer is going to ever need to know about SQL ( http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596520847.do )

SQL and Relational Theory gives you more background on relational theory - basically gives a more academic background for existing practitioners of SQL. Date is pretty dry author with a few hangups, but it's largely good solid stuff ( http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920022879.do )

Oracle Essentials is a good solid introduction to Oracle, and gives a useful bit of background on how database management systems work ( http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596514549.do )

For other subjects:

Code Complete needs little introduction ( http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780735619678.do )

I've only just started reading Version Control with Git, but it seems pretty good so far, and is well-reviewed ( http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596520137.do )

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