Understanding version control and mastering git - Branches and more...!!

UpdatedAugust 14, 2022

I am Nandan, And you probably know me as a "Software Engineer who "hacked" an Airline to retrieve his luggage".

I am a full-time Software Engineer, Tech Speaker, and mentor. I enjoy talking about Web Development, Machine Learning, Natural language Processing, Machine learning Accelerated Mobile Pages, Progressive Web Apps, Cybersecurity, Chatbots, etc.

My claim to fame was when I posted a series of tweets on Twitter about data privacy issues on an airline’s website and the tweet got viral for all the good reasons. The story was covered by all major media portals all around the world including BBC, Saudi Gazette, Times of India, Boing Boing, Lallantop etc. and I have been interviewed by some major radio channels and podcasts.

In my free time, I like to indulge myself in activities like Photography, Gardening, Snooker, or Boxing. I am a proud owner of many plants, I sometimes talk to them (mostly pep talks).

Comments

Join the discussion

No comments yet. Be the first to comment.

Understanding version control and mastering git | The Git pro series

Part 2 of 5

A series of blog posts that paves your path to mastering git, One command at a time. We start with the basics of version control and cover all the hidden secrets of Git. Stay tuned..!!

Up next

Understanding version control and mastering git - Tag, log, Stash, and more..!

May come in handy when you are leveling up.

More from this blog

How I Moved My Google AI Studio App to GitHub CI

Three wrong Fixes, one ghost container, and an afternoon I did not plan for.

Jul 12, 20266 min read179

How I Moved My Google AI Studio App to GitHub CI

I Got Tired of Goodreads. So I Built Kitaaben.com

I read a lot. Not as much as I'd like to, but enough that I needed a place to keep track of it all. For years, Goodreads was that place. Then Amazon bought it in 2013 and... nothing happened. No meani

Jun 24, 20264 min read22

I Got Tired of Goodreads. So I Built Kitaaben.com

How to Convert Nested Objects to Flat Objects in JavaScript.

Why Arrays Need Special Handling.

Mar 4, 20264 min read55

How to Convert Nested Objects to Flat Objects in JavaScript.

HTML Pitfalls and Gotchas Every Developer Should Avoid

HTML is Easy, May be Not.

Sep 5, 20254 min read38

HTML Pitfalls and Gotchas Every Developer Should Avoid

Front-End Developer Interviews: The Crucial Aspect of Accessibility

What you should know about Accessibility.

Aug 9, 20253 min read49

Front-End Developer Interviews: The Crucial Aspect of Accessibility

Nandan Kumar's Blog | Software Engineer | Featured on BBC, Saudi Gazette, Times Of India | Tech Speaker | Mentor

38 posts

Software Engineer | Blogger | Tech Speaker | Mentor | Featured on BBC, Saudi Gazette, Times Of India

In my last blog, We learned about version control and its use in software development. We also understood some of the basic git commands like config, clone, commit, and push. As a beginner both in git and a project, these commands come handy and get us going.

As we grow and our project grows, so does the team. With all the growth, it becomes tough for developers to manage code and keep track of all the contributions. This is where branching comes into the picture.

What is a branch

In Git, a branch is a new/separate version of the main repository. It represents an independent line of development. It also serves as an abstraction for the edit/stage/commit process which means that whatever changes you make in a branch, do not affect your master/main [T&C Apply].

Some Branching commands

Create a new branch, But do not switch to it
```
git branch <branchname>
```
Switch to an already created branch
```
git checkout  <branchname>
```
Create a new branch and switch to the branch
```
git checkout -b <branchname>
```
List all the branches in your repo, and it also shows what branch you're currently in
```
git branch
```
Push the branch to your remote repository, so others can use it
```
git push origin <branchname>
```
Push all branches to your remote repository
```
git push --all origin
```
Delete a specific branch
```
git branch -d <branchname>
```
Delete a branch on your remote repository
```
git push origin:<branchname>
```

Well... That was a lot of branching knowledge and contrary to the law of conservation of energy, a branch can be created or destroyed (deleted) and the only way to preserve it, is to finally merge it to master or to its target.

What is a merge

Merge is the process of taking the contents of a source branch and integrating them with a target branch.

Remember the T&C I had put earlier? It's time we trace back.

Let's get into a scenario where you were given a feature to implement i.e. Heart Glasses for your octopus (Here onwards we will call him Octie). What will you do?

You will create the heart_glass branch from your master branch using one of the above branching commands.
Once you are done with all your changes and know that the glass will look good on Octie;
You go ahead and merge your heart_glass branch to your master branch, and maybe then delete the heart_glass branch and you will have all your changes in the master now.
Octie is looking good there, and while you were creating glasses, someone put a hat on Octie. Ain't that nice?

The below image practically sums up the whole process - Git Branching - Imgur.png

Some merge git commands

merge a different branch into your active branch
```
git merge <branchname>
```
Fetch and merge changes on the remote server to your working directory
```
git pull
```
View all the merge conflicts
```
git diff
```
Preview changes, before merging
```
git diff <sourcebranch> <targetbranch>
```

In this blog post, we have deep-dived into branching and merging, and we are one step closer to becoming git masters.

In the next blog post, we will try to cover resetting a branch, tagging, and so much more. I also intend to cover some less-known git features in this series. Do you know you can clone only a subdirectory from a git repo? More on this later!

Stay tuned, follow me on social media channels, and subscribe to my newsletter to get updates on my upcoming posts.

Command Palette