Git for Computer Scientists

http://eagain.net/articles/git-for-computer-scientists/

by Mathnerd314 • 16 years ago

70 17 16 years ago

vijaydev2• 16 years ago

crisp & concise. The analogy about refs being post-its is a nice one!

pgbovine3• 16 years ago

semi-troll comment time: the title of this article seems a bit elitist and demeaning ... what are the rest of the git tutorials on the web, then? "Git for grubby coders"? i don't see how simply presenting a bunch of DAGs all of a sudden makes it like "ohhhhh Computer Science!"

vijaydev2• 16 years ago

I disagree. Majority of us who use a version control do not need to know the internals. I can be a proficient git user without even knowing what a DAG is and that's the beauty of it. The software is so transparent that I don't need a degree in computer science to use it. However, learning the internals gives a nice perspective which helps in using the system better.

pgbovine3• 16 years ago

that's sort of my point, though ... you still don't need a computer science degree (or even much CS knowledge) to understand this tutorial. i would think that self-taught hackers might be offended by the title of this article, since it implies that you need to have some deep ivory-tower CS training in order to understand it. but in reality, it's quite well-presented and accessible to a general techie audience.

skybrian2• 16 years ago

I think it's essential. Not knowing the internals both means that you're more likely to screw up and type the wrong git command, and makes it less likely that you can get yourself out of trouble on your own. It's hard to actually lose data with git, but you need a good understanding to fix things.

unwantedLetters• 16 years ago

I sort of disagree.

I feel that presenting a bunch of DAGs does tie it in to Computer Science for sure. Graphs are an integral part of Computer Science, and to present it from that perspective does make it more "Computer Science-y".

I agree that to assume that only Computer Scientists (or people who have majored in Computer Science degree) understand what a DAG is, is elitist.

sprout2• 16 years ago

What exactly does it mean to be a computer scientist? I'd say if this article is accessible to you, it's reasonable to call you some sort of computer scientist, even if you don't have a degree, or aren't necessarily an authority on the subject.

Groxx• 16 years ago

i don't see how simply presenting a bunch of DAGs all of a sudden makes it like "ohhhhh Computer Science!"

Perhaps not, but CS students / graduates are more likely to be familiar with them from the often f^#kin crappy textbooks we have to wade through, which seem to think everything is better with DAGs / pages of near-identical diagrams for you to play "what's different?" with. I don't see that many who haven't gone through the education-machine would subject themselves to such things willingly to be efficient enough at it to make something like this worthwhile.

JustAGeek• 16 years ago

I actually found this quite accessible, I was expecting something very complicated or theoretical but it's a good visualization and explanation about the internals of Git.

Git for Computer Scientists

Related Stories