Kimberly Tran: Visualizing the Git Commit Graph

This is a recording of the March 25, 2021 virtual meeting

Visualizing the Git Commit Graph

There are only a handful of Git commands that are needed for every day usage, and these commands can best be understood as graph manipulation commands. Understanding and manipulating the commit graph is the key to working with Git confidently and efficiently. This presentation will encourage you to approach Git by using a "graph first" approach: what is the state of the current graph, what do you want the graph to look like, and then the commands to transform the graph. We'll look at everything from the vantage point of the Git commit graph, including the working directory, the index/staging area, and "remotes". We'll examine the idea that every Git commit is part of a single giant universe-spanning repository.

About Kimberly:

Kimberly Tran (she/they) is Principal Software Architect at Finomial Corporation. She has worked on both the systems/tools side of the software industry, writing compilers, debuggers, and IDEs and as an application software developer in a variety of spaces, including online grocery delivery, healthcare, and for the last few years, fintech. She has introduced Git to a number of teams, and is always looking for better ways to understand and explain Git. Kim is a collector of computer languages, a reader of board game rule books, a baseball fan, a would-be vegetable gardener, and lives with her two kids and a bunch of robots in Metro Boston.