Friday 19 May 2017

Review - Professional Git

I am asked at least twice in three months about a good book on Git.

Despite the information available at https://git-scm.com/book is very comprehensive, there is value out of a published book to be consumed as a reference, especially when onboarding a new team member or when you finally want to get a firm grip on this (sometimes dreaded) Version Control System.

So I contacted Wrox to get a copy of Professional Git, which was published in December 2016 hence it is not only a reference book but also an updated reference book.


























You might wonder why is this so important to me. Well, it is fairly simple after all. Git became a mainstream tool a few years ago, but its history goes much further back. Documentation on its usage might be older, aimed at advanced users or fragmented, so it is important to have a book not only covering all the important topics, but crucially covering them from the right point of view.

Brent Laster did a brilliant job with this book. I felt the level of depth was perfect, neither too shallow nor too deep. Topics like Submodules – often troublesome for some and quite challenging anyway – are covered with a clarity that would make the essential information memorable.

The book has companion exercises and labs to keep you busy if you are a total newbie. If you are a bit more experienced it is still very valuable, putting down in plain language with straightforward samples even the trickiest of topics.

Just remember that the syntax used for the examples is UNIX-style – hence lots of ls! But aside from that I cannot refrain from suggesting it to who wants to start with Git and is looking for a comprehensive guide.

1 comment:

  1. Also check out Git Essentials, which as you would expect, is much smaller and more approachable for Git novices.

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