{"thread":{"id":"25603","subject":"A confusing usage of the term 'successor' in the git glossary","startedAt":"2010-10-31T18:06:14Z","lastAt":"2010-11-01T08:38:07Z","messageCount":2,"participants":["Lee Doolan","Michael J Gruber"],"isPatch":false,"patchVersion":null,"patchTotal":null},"messages":[{"id":"154895","messageId":"AANLkTimtYGKJUG94c4qFGropVOAgCOHgX5uo8XmWRNvW@mail.gmail.com","threadId":"25603","inReplyTo":null,"subject":"A confusing usage of the term 'successor' in the git glossary","fromName":"Lee Doolan","fromEmail":"lee.doolan@gmail.com","sentAt":"2010-10-31T18:06:14Z","receivedAt":"2010-10-31T18:06:14Z","isPatch":false,"sender":{"key":"lee.doolan@gmail.com","avatar":null},"body":"In the gitglossary\n(http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/gitglossary.html) I\nsee this:\n,----\n| chain\n|\n| A list of objects, where each object in the list contains a reference\n| to its successor (for example, the successor of a commit could be one\n| of its parents).\n`----\n\n\ndon't you mean predecessor instead of successor?\n"},{"id":"154919","messageId":"4CCE7C6F.9030808@drmicha.warpmail.net","threadId":"25603","inReplyTo":"AANLkTimtYGKJUG94c4qFGropVOAgCOHgX5uo8XmWRNvW@mail.gmail.com","subject":"Re: A confusing usage of the term 'successor' in the git glossary","fromName":"Michael J Gruber","fromEmail":"git@drmicha.warpmail.net","sentAt":"2010-11-01T08:38:07Z","receivedAt":"2010-11-01T08:38:07Z","isPatch":false,"sender":{"key":"git@grubix.eu","avatar":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/233215?v=4"},"body":"Lee Doolan venit, vidit, dixit 31.10.2010 19:06:\n> In the gitglossary\n> (http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/gitglossary.html) I\n> see this:\n> ,----\n> | chain\n> |\n> | A list of objects, where each object in the list contains a reference\n> | to its successor (for example, the successor of a commit could be one\n> | of its parents).\n> `----\n> \n> \n> don't you mean predecessor instead of successor?\n\nIn graph-theoretical terms, this is correct. Each commit contains\n\"pointers\" (directed edges, arcs) pointing towards the parents. (There's\nno way to point to children.) You can walk the graph only along directed\nedges, i.e. towards parents. In that sense \"parent\" commits are the\nsuccessors (in the graph) of their \"children\".\n\nSo, there's an unavoidable conflict between the term in the underlying\ndata structure (directed acyclic tree) and the data it represents if you\nthing of the latter as \"childrenship\" instead of \"parentship\".\n\nMichael\n"}]}