From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Johan Herland Subject: Re: [doc] User Manual Suggestion Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:30:12 +0200 Message-ID: <200904242230.13239.johan@herland.net> References: <200904240051.46233.johan@herland.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Cc: git@vger.kernel.org, David Abrahams , Jeff King , "J. Bruce Fields" To: Michael Witten X-From: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Fri Apr 24 22:32:02 2009 Return-path: Envelope-to: gcvg-git-2@gmane.org Received: from vger.kernel.org ([209.132.176.167]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1LxS3s-00040V-D0 for gcvg-git-2@gmane.org; Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:31:52 +0200 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1753314AbZDXUaT (ORCPT ); Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:30:19 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1752029AbZDXUaS (ORCPT ); Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:30:18 -0400 Received: from mx.getmail.no ([84.208.15.66]:36734 "EHLO get-mta-out01.get.basefarm.net" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-FAIL) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751917AbZDXUaR (ORCPT ); Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:30:17 -0400 Content-disposition: inline Received: from mx.getmail.no ([10.5.16.4]) by get-mta-out01.get.basefarm.net (Sun Java(tm) System Messaging Server 7.0-0.04 64bit (built Jun 20 2008)) with ESMTP id <0KIM00K49GYE4GB0@get-mta-out01.get.basefarm.net> for git@vger.kernel.org; Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:30:14 +0200 (MEST) Received: from alpha.localnet ([84.215.102.95]) by get-mta-in02.get.basefarm.net (Sun Java(tm) System Messaging Server 7.0-0.04 64bit (built Jun 20 2008)) with ESMTP id <0KIM00LYUGYDZ430@get-mta-in02.get.basefarm.net> for git@vger.kernel.org; Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:30:14 +0200 (MEST) X-PMX-Version: 5.5.3.366731, Antispam-Engine: 2.7.0.366912, Antispam-Data: 2009.4.24.201636 User-Agent: KMail/1.11.2 (Linux/2.6.29-ARCH; KDE/4.2.2; x86_64; ; ) In-reply-to: Sender: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org Archived-At: On Friday 24 April 2009, Michael Witten wrote: > On Thu, Apr 23, 2009 at 17:51, Johan Herland wrote: > > There's also http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~cduan/technical/git/ which I > > think is a great bottom-up introduction: > > - not too heavy on the concepts > > I really don't understand this mentality. Concepts are the only things > that are important. From concepts falls all else. Sorry for not being clear: Concepts are indeed (and should be) important. What I mean is that the concepts introduced are short and simple enough for novice users to understand (without much VCS experience, if any at all). If we start off _too_ detailed, we risk loosing the audience, and no one is better off. Like Jeff King said elsewhere in this thread: We want to start a little higher from the bottom. The above introduction does not focus on blobs or trees, but manages to introduce Git in a useful manner by starting off with only two concepts: commits and refs. With only these two concepts, and showing how high-level commands (remember: no plumbing) work with these concepts, I believe it is possible to teach anyone to use Git well. Of course, as users progress towards becoming power-users, more concepts are needed, but I don't think these are needed from the start. As Einstein might have said: As simple as possible, but no simpler. Have fun! ...Johan -- Johan Herland, www.herland.net