Version control overview

  1. Centralized version control systems:
    everyone connects to a central server for the latest copy of the code

  2. Distributed version control systems:
    everyone have a copy and is shared between people

Version control and git

Understanding purpose of git and how to use it effectively was pretty confusing, but I found a very good video on Youtube that explains the basic here

(Youtube tutorial is the best!)
peepohappy

git from my understanding:

git is important to track code history and collaborate with others and you can compare changes to code and roll back if you break stuff when make changes to your code

mistakes

How to use git:

  1. Command line
  2. Code editor/IDE
  3. GUI (git kraken/source tree etc.)

Setting up git

After you’ve installed git, you need to configure some setting in your terminal before you can actually use it:

git config --global username "your name"
# sets your username

git config --global user.email youremail@domain.com
# sets your email

git config --global core.editor "code --wait" 
# sets the default editor to VScode

git config --global -e 
# opens up the configuration file

git config --global core.autocrlf true
# windows configuration for end of line  

git config --global core.autocrlf input
# mac/linux configuration for end of line

git configuration can be specified at three levels:

  1. System (all users)
  2. global (all repository of the current users)
  3. local*(only the current repository)

End of line

git have a end of line configuration that lets different operating systems work together.

windows systems have two end of line types, carriage return, and line feed, while mac/linux systems only have line feed.

to make collaborations work, the carriage return needs to be removed when window users checks into the git repository.

windows: \r carriage return, \n line feed git need to remove carriage return from end of lines when checking in code into the repository and add the end of lines back when checking out code from the repository

macOS/linux: \n line feed git need to remove the end of line when storing code if it is acccidentally added

Using git to track version with bash:

cd C:\\path\\to\\folder
# changes the working directory to the path you put

git init
# this commands creates a .git folder in your current directory, so that you can start tracking your code with git

git config help command:

git --version 
# checks the version of git installed      
  
git config --help 
# help with git

git config -h 
# short summary of commands

Basic git commands:

git status 
# lets you see which files are changed and staged 

git add "file1.extension" "file2.> extension" 
# adds one or more files to the staging area

git add . 
# adds the entire directory sometimes you don't want this because there might be large log files

git add *txt 
# adds all files with that extenstion pattern to the staging area

echo "something">"file.extension"
# standard linux/unix command for writing content to a file

echo "something">>"file.extension"
# append
mkdir "name of directory" 
# make an empty directory in the path

cd "c:\\path\\to\\directory" 
# change directory path

ls
#list the files and directories in the path

ls -a 
#lists all the files and directories in the path, including hidden ones

when you install git, it comes with git bash (bourne against shell) which provides an emulation layer for a git command line experience/ emulates linux/unix environment