From: "Julia Evans" <julia@jvns•ca>
To: "Junio C Hamano" <gitster@pobox•com>
Cc: "Julia Evans" <gitgitgadget@gmail•com>, git@vger•kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/5] doc: git-add: start man page with an example
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2025 18:45:32 -0400 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <4d922dbf-ad97-42da-be19-905de5bd18de@app.fastmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <xmqqwm78p4uh.fsf@gitster.g>
> Yes, I have heard that for recent crop of developers especially
> newgrads, Git is the only SCM they've ever touched. If we can
> assume that the data and mental model of Git is natural for our
> intended audiences, that is great (we can also forget about the
> diff/patch based world view, which comes from how CVS/RCS stored
> their revision data, and assume that the snapshot based world view
> is natural to our readers).
Git is certainly the only version control system I've ever used: I started using
it when I was a new grad 15 years ago. Everything I know about Subversion or CVS
(almost nothing) I know from reading explanations of Git aimed at their users
or from trying to understand the origin of some of Git's terminology choices :)
re whether the snapshot based world view is "natural" or not to Git users:
I did some very unscientific polls about people's mental models of Git
a while back at https://jvns.ca/blog/2024/03/28/git-poll-results/#commits
That one says that 42% of folks who responded think of commits as "snapshots"
and 50% as "diffs", which feels encouraging to me: after all, the poll doesn't
ask how Git represents commits internally, and many people replied in the
comments to say that they think of commits in both ways depending on the
situation.
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2025-08-12 22:45 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 59+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2025-08-12 20:07 [PATCH 0/5] doc: git-add: clarify DESCRIPTION section Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-12 20:07 ` [PATCH 1/5] doc: git-add: remove options from SYNOPSIS Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-12 20:41 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-13 16:58 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-13 20:47 ` Jean-Noël AVILA
2025-08-12 20:07 ` [PATCH 2/5] doc: git-add: start man page with an example Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-12 21:01 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-12 21:40 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-12 22:12 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-12 22:45 ` Julia Evans [this message]
2025-08-13 17:22 ` D. Ben Knoble
2025-08-14 0:41 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-14 2:59 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-15 5:38 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-12 20:07 ` [PATCH 3/5] doc: git-add: simplify discussion of ignored files Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-13 17:24 ` D. Ben Knoble
2025-08-12 20:07 ` [PATCH 4/5] doc: git-add: make explanation less dry Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-12 20:07 ` [PATCH 5/5] doc: git-add: explain inconsistent terminology Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-12 20:51 ` Chris Torek
2025-08-12 21:36 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-12 21:43 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-13 23:20 ` [PATCH v2 0/4] doc: git-add: clarify DESCRIPTION section Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-13 23:20 ` [PATCH v2 1/4] doc: git-add: start man page with an example Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-15 0:38 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-15 13:34 ` Jean-Noël AVILA
2025-08-15 16:33 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-17 18:37 ` Jean-Noël AVILA
2025-08-19 20:01 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-13 23:20 ` [PATCH v2 2/4] doc: git-add: simplify discussion of ignored files Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-14 0:59 ` D. Ben Knoble
2025-08-14 22:10 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-13 23:20 ` [PATCH v2 3/4] doc: git-add: make explanation less dry Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-14 22:22 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-15 16:10 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-15 18:25 ` D. Ben Knoble
2025-08-15 20:01 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-16 14:15 ` D. Ben Knoble
2025-08-15 19:47 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-19 12:57 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-21 20:36 ` Jean-Noël AVILA
2025-08-13 23:20 ` [PATCH v2 4/4] doc: git-add: explain inconsistent terminology Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-14 22:49 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-19 20:09 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-19 20:46 ` [PATCH v3 0/3] doc: git-add: clarify DESCRIPTION section Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-19 20:46 ` [PATCH v3 1/3] Git 2.51 Junio C Hamano via GitGitGadget
2025-08-19 21:06 ` rsbecker
2025-08-19 21:37 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-19 21:44 ` D. Ben Knoble
2025-08-19 21:48 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-19 21:49 ` rsbecker
2025-08-19 20:46 ` [PATCH v3 2/3] doc: git-add: clarify intro & add an example Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-21 20:08 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-22 20:37 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-19 20:46 ` [PATCH v3 3/3] doc: git-add: simplify discussion of ignored files Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-21 20:09 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-29 11:55 ` [PATCH v4 0/2] doc: git-add: clarify DESCRIPTION section Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-29 11:55 ` [PATCH v4 1/2] doc: git-add: clarify intro & add an example Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-29 11:55 ` [PATCH v4 2/2] doc: git-add: simplify discussion of ignored files Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-29 17:11 ` [PATCH v4 0/2] doc: git-add: clarify DESCRIPTION section Junio C Hamano
Reply instructions:
You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:
* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
and reply-to-all from there: mbox
Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
switches of git-send-email(1):
git send-email \
--in-reply-to=4d922dbf-ad97-42da-be19-905de5bd18de@app.fastmail.com \
--to=julia@jvns$(echo .)ca \
--cc=git@vger$(echo .)kernel.org \
--cc=gitgitgadget@gmail$(echo .)com \
--cc=gitster@pobox$(echo .)com \
/path/to/YOUR_REPLY
https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line
before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox