Programming By Stealth

Latest Episodes:

PBS 114 – Tracking Git Branches Apr 17, 2021

Show notes

We continue on our journey to learn how to use Git to do version control as a single person, but this time with multiple devices. As Bart says during this episode, "Who is learning to program here who doesn't have multiple computers?" We've learned how to push our changes to a single separate repo, but we had to always say what branch we wanted to push to what branch on the origin. In this installment we learn how to tell Git to _track_ our branches so they stay in sync without us having to tell Git every time which branches to push where. We also learn how to make sure our annotated tags get pushed as well by setting a single repo or all Git repos on our computers to push our tags. Bart leaves us with a big tease at the end. We learn how to clone a repo in preparation for having two computers accessing the same code in Git with a primary source acting as the go between for them.

PBS 113 of X My First Git Remote Apr 03, 2021

Show notes

Last time on Programming By Stealth, Bart introduced the concept of remote repositories, also known as remotes. It was one of those episodes where we learned a lot but didn't get to apply what we learned. In this week's installment we get our hands digitally dirty as we create a _bare repository_ (a repo with no working tree), and declare it to be a backup of our local repo. We learn how to fetch and view remote branches and tags, how to push everything to the remote, and then after making some changes, push them to our remote backup. We're still in a bit of a sandbox as we do all this on one computer inside a couple of local folders, but the lessons exercise our new muscles to get ready for the big leagues.

Bart's excellent tutorial show notes are as always available at pbs.bartificer.net/...

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PBS 112 of X – Introducing Git Remotes Mar 20, 2021

Show notes

In this next installment in our mini-series on learning Git, Bart Busschots gives us some foundational knowledge on how to work beyond being one person with one Git repository.

He starts by reinforcing what he's explained before, that Git is a peer-to-peer technology, which is hard to wrap your head around if you're used to client-server relationships. He walks us through three scenarios to explain how every "actor" gets a repository and why. Then he explains the jargon of "local" vs "remotes". It's at this point that my head started to hurt, but Bart claims this is where I'm value-added to the podcast. I ask all the questions you might have, and I suspect many more than you have. Bart sticks with me and makes sure I fully understand.

You can find Bart's tutorial show notes at: pbs.bartificer.com

PBS 111 of X – Stashing Changes Jan 31, 2021

Show notes

In this installment of Programming By Stealth, Bart teaches us how Git can help us when we forget to switch to the correct branch before starting to make changes to our code. We're only human, and we will forget, and Git's `stash` command allows us to set our changes aside, switch to or even create and switch to the correct branch and then apply our changes. His explanations and repetition in the exercises really cement the knowledge. As a bonus tip, he teaches us how to make shell variables inside the Terminal which will help us with some of the repetitive typing in the future.

Bart's tutorial shownotes are at pbs.bartificer.net/pbs111

PBS 110 of X – Merge Conflicts Jan 16, 2021

Show notes

In this installment of Programming By Stealth Bart teaches us how to deal with conflicts in branches of our code. He has been purposely only changing one thing at a time before now, but it's time to face the reality of when two branches change the same line in the same file. I've been terrified of this topic for a long time, but Bart shows us how easy it is to see exactly what the conflict is, how you can back out of merging if you make "a pig's breakfast" of it, and how to resolve your conflicts without fear. It's not nearly as terrifying as I thought it would be.

You can find Bart's tutorial show notes at [pbs.bartificer.net/...](https://pbs.bartificer.net/pbs110)

And if you learn a lot from Bart, please consider becoming a patron of his by going to [www.patreon.com/...](https://www.patreon.com/ltpod/posts)

PBS 109 of X — SemVar & Structured Commits Dec 28, 2020

Show notes

We continue our mini-series within a series learning the version control system Git. We learn two methods to enhance our branching strategy. First, we'll walk through some basic principles on how to number our released versions of our code. From there we'll explore three types of changes that would cause a change in our release version: fixes, new features, and breaking changes. Each of these types of updates to the version of our code can be articulated with Semantic Versioning, also known as SerVer. This numbering convention informs users of our code on the meaning of each release. Finally, we marry these concepts by creating meaningful commit messages using another convention called Conventional Commits. Not only can a user of our code see at a glance what happened in a specific commit, documentation can be auto-formatted to explain the commits.

There's not a lot of hands-on in this lesson but as a structured person, I really appreciate these conventions and why they're important.

You can find Bart's tutorial shownotes at pbs.bartificer.net/...

PBS 108 of X — Merging & Tagging Dec 18, 2020

Show notes

In this installment of Programming By Stealth, Bart Busschots continues on his series within a series explaining the version control system Git. We advance in our branching strategy by working several commits on our dev branch and then learn to use a merge commit to bring only the final commit into the main branch, leaving the half-working intermediate commits to exist only on the dev branch. This process illustrates the need to learn about tags, both light-weight and annotated. Once we understand how these tags work and their importance, we evolve our PBS branching strategy one step further.

Bart's tutorial shownotes are available at pbs.bartificer.net/...

PBS 107 of X – Branching Basics Nov 29, 2020

Show notes

This week in our miniseries on learning the version control system Git, Bart dips our proverbial toe into branching. Branches allow us, as developers, to work on bugs or feature enhancements in a separate place from our stable code, and only merge the code back in when the bugs are squashed or the features are stable.

We don't get much practice in this instalment, but rather Bart talks to us about the idea of having a strategy for when to branch and how to name your branches in order to prevent chaos. He gives us some simple and yet difficult to adhere to strategies and then takes us through more rigorous strategies that will actually be easier to follow. He emphasizes that he's not telling us which strategy to follow, but rather to have a strategy.

We do a few small examples from the command line, but we get to open our Git GUI clients, like GitKraken and Sourcetree and see how the commands we're typing are graphically represented in the clients. It's a good illustration of what Bart has been promising us – that the GUI clients are doing exactly what the command line is doing.

You can find Bart's tutorial shownotes at https://pbs.bartificer.net/pbs107. And if you'd like to support Bart on Patreon, go to patreon.com/ltpod.

PBS 106 of X — Time Travel with Git Nov 20, 2020

Show notes

As we continue to learn Git from the command line for version control, Bart teaches us some tricks to travel through time. First he shows us how to view more compact Git logs so we can just see a shortened hash and the first line of our commit message. Then he shows us how to pick out a single commit from the past and see what changed. Then he shows us how, with surgical precision, we can go back in time and get a single file or even just the changes from a specific commit and bring them forward in time. It sounds head bendy but I could immediately see the usefulness of going back in time and grabbing some code that was working well and bringing it forward.

You can read Bart's tutorial shownotes at pbs.bartificer.net/...

PBS 105 of X – Seeing the Past with Git Nov 07, 2020

Show notes

Bart takes us on a time traveling adventure with Git. By using commands like `git diff` we can see changes over time, but we can actually see older versions of the code in a couple of ways. Using the `archive` command we learned out to pull just the files at a certain point in time (without the history) and the more terrifying `checkout` command that creates a "detached HEAD"! Bart even explains why that phrase was introduced and what it actually means. This was a fun lesson and a good foundation for what we'll learn next time, when we'll learn about stashing and branching to control the past and future.

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