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Re: Command-line interface thoughts

From
HHHolger Hellmuth <hellmuth@ira.uka.de>
Date
Jun 10, 2011, 22:45 UTC
Message-ID
<4DF29EA5.60502@ira.uka.de>
In-Reply-To
<201106102035.42525.jnareb@gmail.com>
Am 10.06.2011 20:35, schrieb Jakub Narebski:
Show 30 quoted lines
> Dnia piątek 10. czerwca 2011 20:07, Holger Hellmuth napisał:
>> On 10.06.2011 18:44, Jakub Narebski wrote:
>>> On Thu, 9 Jun 2011, Holger Hellmuth wrote:
>>>> Also there are no good words for what someone wants to see in this case.
>>>> At least I would assume the git project would have found them if they
>>>> existed. '--cached' is definitely not one of them. But we have fitting
>>>> and widely known names for the targets, i.e 'working tree', 'index' and
>>>> 'head'.
>>>
>>> "I want to see if there are any remiaining changes", "I want to see what
>>> 'git commit' would bring", "I want to see what 'git commit -a' would bring".
>>> Neither of those is about targets for diff.
>>
>> Are you proposing a command "git 
>> --I-want-to-see-if-there-are-any-remaining-changes" ? ;-). I was looking 
>> for short command or parameter names that are easy to remember, not for 
>> definitions of the output of cryptic commands.
>>
>> But lets see. If I didn't know much git, where would I look for the 
>> right command for your three needs? Where would I expect the solution? 
>> (note I'm not proposing any of these commands)
>>
>> "I want to see if there are any remaining changes"?
>> git status
>> git status --full
>> git status --detailed
> 
> "Any differences"?
> 
> git diff
But difference to what --> User checks man page, again.
Show 6 quoted lines
> 
> 
> "I want to see what I staged"
> 
> git diff --staged
>

User never heard of 'staged'. He asks instead "I want to see what I added" --> git diff --added --> Error Message --> User checks man page, again

Show 6 quoted lines
> 
> Isn't it simpler than "I want to see the changes between what I already
> staged, which is put in place called index, but must refer to it by NEXT,
> and the changes I didn't staged, in my working area, which I refer to by
> WORK... no, it is TREE... oh, wait, it is WTREE" :-)  I am exaggerating
> much here, but I think you can see what I want to point out.

Sure. I'm not a fan of 'NEXT' either. I would use INDEX. Or even index if that doesn't clash with anything. WTREE as well is not optimal but it is something you can get at as soon as you remember the term 'working tree'. And you know what you will get without consulting the manuals if you are unsure.

Show 5 quoted lines
>> Now I'll add a question I would want to ask:
>> "I want to see the changes between what I have in my working tree and 
>> what I already added to the index"
> 
> That's not a beginner question.

Ok, I had a different definition of beginner, especially since I and all the git-user I know at my work place used the index from the beginning. The index is a wonderful idea but it isn't that hard to understand. If you look at the gittutorial man page (and any of the other 3 top tutorials in google) 3 of those 4 tutorials talk about the index and git add, only one uses 'git commit -a' instead.

Only one mentions 'git diff --cached' by the way, seems to be an advanced topic ;-)

Show 6 quoted lines
>> git diff WTREE INDEX
>            ^^^^^^^^^^^ --- reverse to "git diff"
> 
> In this direction it is surely suprising... you see, how again and again
> having to explicitely state what to compare with which leads to mistakes
> such like this one, and the one in few mails earlier.

I'm a sloopy person as you have noticed. Also very forgetful. I usually don't bother with the order of 'diff' parameters when I can get the direction from the diff output.

Show 8 quoted lines
>>
>> Btw. even the 'git diff' man page emphasizes that diff is about a 
>> comparision between two things. Citation: "Show changes *between* two 
>> trees, a tree and the working tree, a tree and the index file,...".
>  
> That's more about explaining result of command.  Besides manpages are
> reference documentation; new users should start with user's manual, or
> tutorial (or "Pro Git"), not manpages.

Ok, so lets look at 'Pro Git'. Besides using your description it is also talking about comparision between working area and staging area and comparing staged changes to last commit.

Show 8 quoted lines
> Well, that depends by what you mean by beginner.  Beginner to git, but
> not beginner to version control knows about "<scm> diff" form to check
> for one's changes, for example.
> 
> But I don't think that beginner knows that there is such thing like the
> index, and know that he/she has to compare the index to the working area.
> When he/she starts to use the index, probably he/she isn't a beginner
> anymore.

Learning git is not a role playing game where you have to master level 1 before you can use all the tricks of level 2 ;-). But any which way we call them there are a lot of users using git with index and all, but who have to search in the docs whenever they want to do something like unadding something from the index.

Small things like 'git unadd', Jeff Kings 'git put' and git diff with targets probably would help this casual/intermediate/advanced user (take your pick).

Holger.
Previous: Jakub NarebskiNext: Jonathan Nieder
Message 31 of 98 in “Command-line interface thoughts”
  1. Michael NahasJun 4, 2011
  2. Jakub NarebskiJun 4, 2011
  3. Michael NahasJun 5, 2011
  4. Jakub NarebskiJun 5, 2011
  5. Scott ChaconJun 5, 2011
  6. Jakub NarebskiJun 5, 2011
  7. Junio C HamanoJun 6, 2011
  8. Michael J GruberJun 6, 2011
  9. Michael NahasJun 6, 2011
  10. Jakub NarebskiJun 6, 2011
  11. Michael J GruberJun 6, 2011
  12. Jakub NarebskiJun 8, 2011
  13. Junio C HamanoJun 6, 2011
  14. Drew NorthupJun 6, 2011
  15. Junio C HamanoJun 6, 2011
  16. Michael J GruberJun 6, 2011
  17. Junio C HamanoJun 6, 2011
  18. Scott ChaconJun 6, 2011
  19. Junio C HamanoJun 6, 2011
  20. Michael J GruberJun 7, 2011
  21. Jonathan NiederJun 7, 2011
  22. Holger HellmuthJun 7, 2011
  23. Jonathan NiederJun 7, 2011
  24. Jakub NarebskiJun 7, 2011
  25. Holger HellmuthJun 8, 2011
  26. Jakub NarebskiJun 8, 2011
  27. Holger HellmuthJun 9, 2011
  28. Jakub NarebskiJun 10, 2011
  29. Holger HellmuthJun 10, 2011
  30. Jakub NarebskiJun 10, 2011
  31. Holger HellmuthJun 10, 2011
  32. git diff --added (Re: Command-line interface thoughts)Jonathan Nieder, Jun 13, 2011
  33. Miles BaderJun 13, 2011
  34. Miles BaderJun 13, 2011
  35. Jonathan NiederJun 13, 2011
  36. Junio C HamanoJun 13, 2011
  37. Junio C HamanoJun 13, 2011
  38. Holger HellmuthJun 13, 2011
  39. Michael NahasJun 13, 2011
  40. Jakub NarebskiJun 13, 2011
  41. Holger HellmuthJun 13, 2011
  42. Michael HaggertyJun 14, 2011
  43. Jakub NarebskiJun 14, 2011
  44. René ScharfeJun 7, 2011
  45. Jakub NarebskiJun 7, 2011
  46. Jakub NarebskiJun 8, 2011
  47. Michael NahasJun 8, 2011
  48. Jakub NarebskiJun 8, 2011
  49. Michael NahasJun 8, 2011
  50. Jeff KingJun 8, 2011
  51. Michael NahasJun 8, 2011
  52. Jeff KingJun 9, 2011
  53. Michael NahasJun 9, 2011
  54. Jakub NarebskiJun 10, 2011
  55. Jakub NarebskiJun 9, 2011
  56. Michael NahasJun 9, 2011
  57. Jakub NarebskiJun 9, 2011
  58. Jakub NarebskiJun 9, 2011
  59. Michael HaggertyJun 9, 2011
  60. Andreas EricssonJun 9, 2011
  61. Thomas RastJun 9, 2011
  62. Jeff KingJun 9, 2011
  63. Jay SoffianJun 9, 2011
  64. Jeff KingJun 9, 2011
  65. Junio C HamanoJun 9, 2011
  66. Jay SoffianJun 9, 2011
  67. Junio C HamanoJun 9, 2011
  68. Michael HaggertyJun 9, 2011
  69. Junio C HamanoJun 9, 2011
  70. Michael HaggertyJun 9, 2011
  71. Jeff KingJun 9, 2011
  72. Michael HaggertyJun 9, 2011
  73. Jakub NarebskiJun 9, 2011
  74. Michael HaggertyJun 9, 2011
  75. Jakub NarebskiJun 10, 2011
  76. Michael NahasJun 10, 2011
  77. Jakub NarebskiJun 10, 2011
  78. Jeff KingJun 9, 2011
  79. Michael NahasJun 9, 2011
  80. Jeff KingJun 9, 2011
  81. Jakub NarebskiJun 9, 2011
  82. Michael NahasJun 10, 2011
  83. Jeff KingJun 10, 2011
  84. Junio C HamanoJun 10, 2011
  85. Junio C HamanoJun 10, 2011
  86. Jakub NarebskiJun 10, 2011
  87. Michael HaggertyJun 12, 2011
  88. Junio C HamanoJun 12, 2011
  89. Michael NahasJun 12, 2011
  90. Junio C HamanoJun 12, 2011
  91. Michael NahasJun 13, 2011
  92. Jeff KingJun 13, 2011
  93. Jeff KingJun 9, 2011
  94. Paul EbermannJun 5, 2011
  95. Paul EbermannJun 5, 2011
  96. Michael NahasJun 7, 2011
  97. Junio C HamanoJun 7, 2011
  98. Michael NahasJun 7, 2011

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