Practice repository to start learning Git

Commands used

git init: Create a new git repository
git status: Compare working directory, staging area, and current branch
git add: Add changes from working directory to staging area
git commit: Commit changes from staging area to current branch
git config: Set or get configuration
git log: Show a history (aka "log") of project commits
git checkout: Check out branch (update HEAD and apply changes to working directory)
git branch -c: Create a branch
git checkout -b: Create branch, then check it out
git branch: List branches
git merge: Merge changes from different branches
git remote add : Add a new at
git remote -v: List remote repositories
git push -u : Push to , and set default upstream for
git fetch: Fetch changes from remote repository
git pull: Fetch, and then merge

What's a branch?

A branch is a ref(erence) to a commit. When HEAD points to a branch, we say we're "on" that branch. When we make a commit while we're on a branch, the branch is updated to ref(er) to the new commit.

What's HEAD?

HEAD is a ref(erence) to the "current" branch (or sometimes a commit...more on that later). Git commands like status, log, and branch use HEAD. git checkout updates HEAD to ref(er) to a different branch.

Commit messages

Default editor is vim (this can be changed)

i to enter insert mode
Type commit message
Esc -> :wq -> Enter to write message and quit Or use git commit -m "<message>"
First line should be clear, accurate, and concise
Use proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation
Don't end with a .

For more advice, see: https://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/

Merging

Merging means to bring the changes from one branch into another.

A fast-forward merge happens when the target branch was branched from the current one, and there are no new changes to the current branch since then.
An Automatic merge happens when the two histories have diverged, but git is able to reconcile them into one set of changes. This creates a new commit on the current branch.

What's a remote?

A remote repo is one hosted somewhere other than our local machine. We can add remotes with git remote add, and set up tracking branches to track differences between our local and remote repositories.

We push to remotes with git push, and fetch from them with git fetch. We can also fetch and merge in one set with git pull.