LWN: Comments on "Getting started with Git"

Git fundamentally different

arcticwolf — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 08:36:17 +0000

Wait, are you serious? I checked out your post, hoping to get a list of actual issues and shortcomings with git, and now you seriously want to tell me that your most urgent complaints about git and git-svn, respectively, are "noone else in my company uses it" (boohoo) and "I have to get used to a new tool" (again, boohoo)? As the kids way say these days - "I LOL'ed".

Seriously, stop whining.

Learning curve

pjm — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 04:41:46 +0000

Without having come from a cognitive psychology background (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_curve), I'd have thought that a learning curve would have the amount learned as the y axis, not productivity.

If a tool requires a lot to be learned before I can be productive with that tool, then I will do a lot of learning early on, so such a graph would indeed be steeper than for a tool requiring very little knowledge in order to be productive in it, where one can afford to take one's time in learning more about it.

Getting started with Git

giraffedata — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 20:33:58 +0000

Much like hacker or begging the question, this is a lost cause.

I agree, if the cause is getting everyone in to stop using the term incorrectly. But that's not my cause (and if it were, my contribution to it would be too insignificant to justify typing in a comment).

Perhaps people think that the vertical axis is 1/productivity or difficulty or something.

I very much doubt that. Anyone who looked deeply enough to see a graph would see the real one. Either they're visualizing climbing a hill or thinking of "steep penalties" meaning "high penalties."

There are also people who use "learning curve" all by itself to mean "learning requirement," as in "we'd like to switch, but there's a learning curve." This falls in the same category of using fancy words to sound smarter as "we need connectivity" to mean "we need a connection" or "we'll sell it at a higher price point" to mean "we'll sell it at a higher price."

Getting started with Git

bronson — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 18:25:25 +0000

Much like hacker or begging the question, this is a lost cause. For better or for worse, "Steep learning curve" has come to mean "very difficult to learn." Perhaps people think that the vertical axis is 1/productivity or difficulty or something.

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/steep.html

Getting started with Git

giraffedata — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 16:38:36 +0000

As described by the article, the learning curve for Git is shallow, not steep. A learning curve is a graph of productivity on the vertical axis against time on the horizontal axis. A tool with a steep learning curve is one you can learn completely in a few minutes.

The article probably means to say metaphorically that learning Git is a steep hill to climb.

Getting started with Git

Algol — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:44:35 +0000

Worth watching (for those that might have missed it):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XpnKHJAok8

Git fundamentally different

scripter — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 18:34:26 +0000

The workflow of Git is completely different than when using centralized systems like Subversion. I've written up my initial impressions of Git: Git underwhelms.

Getting started with Git

daenzer — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:26:56 +0000

I'm not convinced of the usefulness of tutorials for CVS or SVN etc.
users. Git is just fundamentally different, and trying to treat it like
something else can be confusing rather than helpful.

Just a warning for people coming from other SCMs, not criticism of this
excellent article.

Improved LWN

modernjazz — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:06:34 +0000

Just a general comment: judging from the last several LWNs, two editors
are even better than one. LWN just keeps getting better. We're lucky to
have you.

Getting started with Git

dadillow — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 04:07:44 +0000

A few more useful tidbits: 'git <command> --help' will bring up the man page for that command, and 'git --help' will bring up a list of common commands.