A Few Great Git Resources

I followed a version control path of RCS, CVS, VSS, SVN, and now Git, so one can imagine how Git is tossing my burned-in ideas of version on its head.

I use SVN at work and Git for personal projects. To date, my GIT workflow is similar to SVN. I work on the main branch, one feature at a time, commit and push to GitHub.

Occasionally, I've worked on a few problems simultaneously and got confused trying to separate them for the commits. The local branch can quickly become a tangled mess without completely understanding what is going on with Git commands. I know I'm not yet scratching Git's surface, so I decided it's time to better understand what I'm doing.

Research revealed a lifetime of information, some of it better than others. I want to share the following resources as they quickly got me through some of the foundational aspects, raising my comfort zone a ton.

I believe this has been around a while now and may be common knowledge, but going through the Learning Git Branching made quick work of teaching me a fundamental understanding. The visuals are top-notch, and the ability to watch commits move around the branches really drove home the lessons! However, a basic understanding of version control is recommended.

Git from the bottom up is a technical overview of Git's inner workings. It can feel like some of the information here isn't necessary to use Git, which may be true, but working through the examples sheds light on some of the mysterious behavior witnessed by the untrained observer. I'd also like to give a shout-out to the Coding Blocks Podcast for recently releasing a six-part Understanding Git series reviewing the book while working through the examples and explaining what is happening and maybe why. Excellent job, guys.

Lastly, I ran across a short but valuable Idiot Proof Git blog post from Doug Turnbull. Packed with useful Git Aliases for making some of the more complicated Git actions more approachable. First off, I didn't know about Git Aliases, and secondly, reviewing the scripts is educational in itself. This is a quick read with not-so-quick but essential takeaways.

These last few days have been a blast and informative. I know that mastery takes time and deliberate practice. While my current project activities don't require many Git interactions, I want to learn more.

After reviewing these resources, can you recommend any others that pack the same kinda punch?