Pragmatic Version Control Using Git

by Travis Swicegood

There's a change in the air. High-profile projects such as the Linux Kernel, Mozilla, Gnome, and Ruby on Rails are now using Distributed Version Control Systems (DVCS) instead of the old stand-bys of CVS or Subversion.

Git is a modern, fast, DVCS. But understanding how it fits into your development can be a daunting task without an introduction to the new concepts. Whether you're just starting out as a professional programmer or are an old hand, this book will get you started using Git in this new distributed world.

Whether you're making the switch from a traditional centralized version control system or are a new programmer just getting started, this book prepares you to start using Git in your everyday programming.

Pragmatic Version Control Using Git starts with an overview of version control systems, and shows how being distributed enables you to work more efficiently in our increasingly mobile society. It then progresses through the basics necessary to get started using Git.

You'll get a thorough overview of how to take advantage of Git. By the time you finish this book you'll have a firm grounding in how to use Git, both by yourself and as part of a team.



Learn how to use how to use Git to protect all the pieces of your project Work collaboratively in a distributed environment Learn how to use Git's cheap branches to streamline your development Install and administer a Git server to share your repository

Genres: Programming, Technology, Technical, Nonfiction, Computers, Software, Computer Science

184 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2008

Reviews

[Gary Boland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid guide to git

[Pat · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is pretty basic. It's not a bad start if you're coming from CVS or SVN with zero DVCS experience (git, bzr, hg, bk, ...). A book on Git should either be for the user who wants to maintain their CVS/SVN workflow but with Git or it should be for the whacked out uber coder who wants to get crazy wid it (like moi). Sadly, this book tries to be both without really being either. If you're interested in reading it, see if you can bum it off a friend.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tried other books on Git but this one worked for me. Made a lot of things more clear, and added some finer points that the others didn't.

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

익히 알고 있었지만 그래도 한번 책으로 읽어봤다. git submodule 정도가 유용했다.

[Dana Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad intro for someone getting started.

[David Workman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book, well written and a well rounded introduction to the Git version control and SCM practices in general.

This does cover much the same ground as Pro Git though, and Pro Git goes into more details about the workings of git. If you are looking for an introduction to git then this book is perfect. If you are thinking you may want to delve deeper then Pro Git is probably a better choice as it provides both introduction and deeper understanding.

[Shahin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was awesome, fast and detail full. I didn't read the last chapters that covers administrative topics. It helped me a lot to understand git philosophy. And specially in last chapters writer was putted some topics that was hard to bear and has very simple examples. It is obvious that I don't need a lot of those things, but it would be helpful if I had better examples about them (I'll search them specially using git help command ;-)).

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the hands on approach. You need to read this book next to a terminal and following along -- by the end you'll be very familiar with all the fundamentals that make git powerful. Especially glad it included a section on git-svn to cooperate with subversion repositories, as we haven't switched over yet at work.

[Nathan Glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another quick read. I have to say that after reading it, I am thoroughly sold on both distributed version control and on Git. I've always used SVN, but Git seems much more "pragmatic". I'm using it now to keep track of work and school projects.
Some of the info in this book is outdated, like the bit about not having a Git distribution for Windows.

[Evan Dower · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's important to note that on the cover "Pragmatic Version Control" is in large type and "Using Git" is much smaller, so the focus is really on explaining the basics of version control, and it just happens to use Git. I was looking for some more in-depth coverage of Git.

[Harri Kauhanen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Git is very powerful but sometimes awkward syntax of commands gets you confused. This book is a great help to get the basics but especially useful if you need to accomplish something advanced. Well written (short enough) and good sense of (dry) humor towards some git oddities makes it a good read.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a pretty good introduction to git. It covered a lot of advanced features which I liked. It did a good job of explaining how git did things differently then subversion. Worth reading if you know nothing about git and would like to find out.

[Pablo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been using Git for quite some time already and I wanted to understand things a little bit better. This book was straightforward, easy to follow and went deep enough for my taste. I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning Git.

[Miguel Alho · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is a pretty good intro to GIT and will get you into the BASIC commands and workflow. might be a little outdated but non the less will give you a good foundation to try it out and then search for a deeper dive. easy read.

[Johnny · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick overview on how you can use version control in a pragmatic way. Git is used to illustrate the ideas, but you are not limited to it. Good when you want a refresh of the capabilities of Git, but otherwise it has too few interesting things to boos productivity.

[Demian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subject matter isn't the easiest so this book probably deserves another star. It's a tough topic to give instruction on, the book does a good job. I recommend it.

[Josh Hamacher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very chatty and conversational. Lots of good information; not sure there's much here that couldn't be found online, but it's a convenient book to have by your side.

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very simple. Easy to follow. One might call it Pragmatic

[Seth Crosby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great starters guide, but some big features are hard to find in this guide.

[Willian Molinari · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in 2009 and wrote a blog post about it (in pt-BR): https://pothix.com/pragmaticgit/

[Sukanta Hazra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good introduction to git. Easy for beginners. Generally found it useful and a good introduction.