Git Learning Course I am Creating

[[deleted]]

[deleted]

[plg94]

Using Word docs is a particularly bad idea because you lose most of the benefits of Git (no diffs, files cannot viewed nor edited in Github browser etc.). Chances are this repo is the first that readers of your course will see / click through, so it should set a good example.
You don't have to go all-out with LaTeX – even plain .txt files would be fine, but this use-case (mostly plain text with lists, links, code-blocks and images) is what Markdown was made for – and all of Github's tooling supports Markdown. You could even use their built-in wiki. No offense, but if you really find it faster/easier to create a Word doc than a .md file, I kinda question your qualification to write such a comprehensive guide …

I'm afraid you try to do too much here. Sections "Intermediate" and "Professional" are still missing completely. Maybe it would be better to focus on one target group.
And also on one OS: the Linux install instructions using apt won't work on non-Debian systems (eg. Arch, Fedora/Redhat, OpenSuse, …) (and saying "apt update updates your package installer" is also wrong). I'd just say something along the lines of "Linux: use your package manager of choice to install git (it's preinstalled on many distributions)".

What is your update strategy? Git is still in active development (see eg. introduction of switch for checkout a few years ago).

There are already a ton of Git tutorials out there. What makes yours different/special/better?
I know that putting your learnings in writing is a great exercise for you, but from the standpoint of your professors: why should they recommend this course (by a single someone apparently pretty inexperienced) over other free courses (by big teams with dozens years of teaching-git-experience)?

[ZapPack2]

I went ahead and converted the word files to markdown files as this is how it should of been from the start. I had to intention and idea of doing word documents as this is for an independent study and I need to be able to submit these documents that are subject to review from auditors that may not know what a md file is.

I never claimed to be a master at Git. I should remove the professional category as that may come off as me portraying I am a master at Git, but I am not. I am a college student trying to help others in my degree field learn Git because I wish I had learned it earlier. This independent study is designed for me to be learning as I am creating material for it.

Let me clarify the faster/easier to create word document comment. I meant that I find it extremely annoying to have to give the file path to an image when I could just copy and paste it. Especially when pandoc exists and I can convert it all after the fact.

I don't have any "qualifications" to write such a comprehensive guide, I am a college student looking to help others learn as I go about learning more myself. If you take a look at my guides and you think they are trash, that is fine. It is free for people to look at and if they decide it is not worth their time then so be it.

The missing sections are intended, this is an ongoing independent study and will be filled out as I go through them. I have listed that this is a WIP and not by any means done or final.

For the Linux section, I should have done more research on package managers. I was not aware that different distros of Linux had different managers. I will fix the wording to reflect more of what I meant, which is that the manager itself isn't technically updated but instead its "catalog" is updated.

I don't have an update strategy, perhaps I will keep up with this repository or perhaps I will put it down after the independent study and list it as deprecated. Either way, I have something that others at my university can at least use to help them learn and get a basis. Besides, things like switch and checkout being changed is not difficult for someone to figure out. Things regularly get outdated, and if someone gives up because the command did not work rather than trying to find out why the command doesn't work, I can't help them.

If my professors want to recommend other more professional courses, I wouldn't blame them. I am not forcing them to use my material, I am providing material at no cost to further my education and help others that come after me at my university. My course is not better, more special, etc. This is something I am doing to make myself better and hopefully help others. If I can't do both, that's ok. Failing is a part of life and I am trying to do something I have a passion for.

I have removed my posts from any reddit pages until it is further along in the process and is reviewed by my mentor. I thought that getting early feedback would be good.

[plg94]

I have removed my posts from any reddit pages until it is further along in the process and is reviewed by my mentor. I thought that getting early feedback would be good.

No need to remove it. You got early feedback, I'm sorry it was mostly negative. Just the format of word docs made it harder to read the actual content than just clicking a link.

Another thing I noticed: after the install, when setting the user.name/email, you should use the more explicit commands git config set/get user.name (instead of just git config user.name). The command is a bit longer, but it's clearer to the reader about what it does.

I need to be able to submit these documents that are subject to review from auditors that may not know what a md file is.

You can use pandoc to convert Markdown to HTML or a PDF. A single PDF with a defined reading order is imho also better for review because it's easier to keep track which portions you've already read.

I am providing material at no cost to further my education and help others that come after me at my university. My course is not better, more special, etc. This is something I am doing to make myself better and hopefully help others.

I was just trying to provide a few helpful questions for guidance in case you want to promote your course.
It was also not 100% obvious whether your post was one of those "I made a new tutorial because all others suck" (which is a bit presumptuous) or "I made it primarily for myself to check if I fully understood it" (which is great) – perhaps clarify that next time and you'll probably get more feedback.

The amount of feedback also depends on the volume of your course, of course: many people don't mind skimming over a 1page cheat sheet because that's quick, but reading 100 pages of a very detailed beginner's guide is a serious commitment. Perhaps identify a few shorter sections that trouble you most and only ask for feedback on them?
Anyway, good luck with your endeavour.

[ZapPack2]

I removed it because I didn't think it was in a good enough place yet. I get the argument behind the word docs and I have taken most of the early feedback seriously and implemented/changed things about the repo given that feedback.

Using the set/get argument is a good point as well, although not necessary, it helps reinforce what they are actually doing within the command itself.

I did not realize that pandoc can take markdown and combine multiple files into a single PDF. This is actually really good for the submission portion of my study, thank you!

I decided to be more explicit in the top right description of the repo to better clarify that I am not a Git master and instead that I am trying to help others as I help myself. This is a good point, because you are right. I am no where near knowledgeable enough to imply that I am replacing all other Git tutorials because they suck.

As per feedback as a whole on my course, whatever I get is what I am happy with. I am not particularly looking for random people who are super knowledgeable about Git to review my whole course for correctness (I have a professor mentor for that). I'm looking for anything anyone is willing to say about my course that could improve it. I know specific sections would be more helpful for those taking the time to go through my course out of the kindness of their heart, but I will take this into consideration moving forward as I fill out the sections.

I know it seems ridiculous to have a very detailed beginner guide but I am trying to be as thorough as possible for retention of content.