I think there are a few good points in this thread that justify why we
teach the Git on the command line:

1. Different GUIs offer different experiences and would be hard to agree on
one.
2. Git CLI is used to reinforce what's learned during the Unix shell lesson.
3. The very important use case of a remote machine (cluster, AWS, ...) with
only terminal access.

I agree that a GUI could get people faster on board to use Git, but I also
think they'll have more trouble
understading the model or switching to another tool later.

I might choose teaching a GUI for a shorter lesson, or if the Unix shell is
not being covered, or if there is a
group of people that is going to work together and the whole group agrees
on using the same tool and can help
each other in the long run (help for the GUI tools is scarce and often
falls back to CLI magic).

Best,

Ivan

On Tue, Sep 6, 2016 at 9:34 AM, P Lijnzaad <[email protected]> wrote:

> I concur with Juan Nunez-Iglesias, the git command line interface is
> horrendously complicated (or should I say inconsistent *), even for
> experienced programmers. This is of course partly due to the git data
> model, which is also very complicated (with >= 5 places to mentally keep
> track of things: working copy, index, repository, remotes, and stash). I
> had good experiences with Easy Git (eg; see https://people.gnome.org/~
> newren/eg/) when transitioning from svn. But it is aimed at exactly that
> (svn -> git), and I'm not sure it's maintained anymore. To further the goal
> of reproduceable research, anything that makes it easier to use git should
> be welcomed.
>
> (*) of course,  *Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative*
> (Oscar Wilde), but still ...
>
> Philip
>
> ​
>
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://lists.software-carpentry.org/listinfo/discuss
>
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.software-carpentry.org/listinfo/discuss

Reply via email to