Re: [doc] User Manual Suggestion

From: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Date: Apr 24, 2009, 14:11 UTC
Message-ID: <20090424141139.GC10761@coredump.intra.peff.net>
In-Reply-To: <b4087cc50904231345x2613308eh640e50f4a2680890@mail.gmail.com>

On Thu, Apr 23, 2009 at 03:45:46PM -0500, Michael Witten wrote:

Show 10 quoted lines

> However, a discussion of blobs, trees, commits, objects, and
> references isn't necessarily low-level. It seems to me that it is a
> high-level understanding of the git world. Without those
> *definitions*, people are left to their own wrong, inconsistent
> thoughts.
> 
> The low-level stuff is HOW those concepts have been used in the
> implementation of git: Where certain files are stored, how certain
> bytes are organized in memory, what are the underlying porcelain
> tools, etc. That what's low-level.

I think I wasn't clear in my original message. I didn't mean teaching low-level stuff like plumbing or file layouts. By "bottom-up" I really meant teaching concepts (like objects, their types, and references), from which user operations and workflows can be explained (or often deduced by the user). Whereas a top-down approach would _start_ with workflows and say "To accomplish X, do Y".

So I think we are in agreement about the right "level" to start at.

-Peff