Learning Git

This book teaches Git in a simple, visual, and tangible manner so that you can build a solid mental model of how Git version control works. Through the use of color, storytelling, and hands-on exercises, you will learn to use this tool with confidence.

The information is introduced incrementally so that you don’t get bogged down with unknown terms or concepts. Learning Git is ideal for anyone who needs to use Git for personal or professional projects: coding bootcamp students, junior developers, data professionals, and technical writers, to name just a few!

This book covers how to:

• Download Git and initialize a local repository
• Add files to the staging area and make commits
• Create, switch, and delete branches
• Merge and rebase branches
• Work with remote repositories including cloning, pushing, pulling, and fetching
• Use pull requests to collaborate with others

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Git and the Command Line

Chapter 2. Local Repositories

Chapter 3. Making a Commit

Chapter 4. Branches

Chapter 5. Merging

Chapter 6. Hosting Services and Authentication

Chapter 7. Creating and Pushing to a Remote Repository

Chapter 8. Cloning and Fetching

Chapter 9. Three-Way Merges

Chapter 10. Merge Conflicts

Chapter 11. Rebasing

Chapter 12. Pull Requests (Merge Requests)

Who This Book Is For

This book is for anyone who wants to learn the basics of how Git works. It is especially designed for individuals that are just getting started learning technical skills, or that work in nontechnical roles but need to use Git to collaborate with their technical counterparts. Some examples of individuals that may benefit from this book include (but are not limited to) coding bootcamp students, computer science students, technical writers, product managers, designers, junior developers, data scientists, and self-taught programmers.

The book is written for people with no experience using Git, as well as those with a bit of experience using Git. If you have no experience with Git, that’s not a problem since this book starts from zero. We’ll begin with installing Git and how to use the command line, and build from there.

If you already have some experience using Git or the command line, the first chapter may be a bit of review. However, I encourage you not to skip it because it sets up the Rainbow project that you will be using throughout the rest of the book.

Using This Book

This book is a hands-on learning experience, where you will be carrying out exercises on your computer while learning the basic concepts of Git. Throughout the book, you will come across two projects: the Rainbow project and the Book project.

The Rainbow project is a hands-on project that you will work on by going through the exercises in the book. It is a simplified project that is intended only for learning purposes. The Book project is an imaginary project that I’ll use to demonstrate how certain features of Git might be used for a more realistic project. Let’s take a closer look at each of these, and at the way the book is structured.

[ NOTE ] Don’t worry if this preface contains terminology that you are not yet familiar with, like repository and commit. I’ll explain all of these concepts in the chapters to come.

Review

“This is an extremely fun and accessible, and yet very thorough, guide for those who want to acquire a good working knowledge of Git.” – Robert C. Martin (Uncle Bob) (Software Craftsman and Author of Clean Code)

“Anna has written the book that the Git community needs. No matter how you learn best, you can learn Git from this book.” – Ben Straub (Developer and Coauthor of Pro Git)

About the Author

Anna Skoulikari is a creative, designer, educator, and tech communicator. She has professional experience working as a UX designer, frontend developer, and technical writer. She teaches Git through her highest rated online course on Udemy and online workshops. Her work benefits from her wide ranging experience in design, storytelling and communication which are all skills she combines to teach Git in a simple, tangible, and visual manner.