How to Use Git Like a Pro

Git is one of the most widely used version control systems (VCS) by developers and teams around the world. However, many are still just scratching the surface of its powerful capabilities. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover Git fundamentals and many advanced techniques to help you use Git like a pro. By the end, you’ll be a Git guru managing code history, collaborating effortlessly, and optimising your development workflows.

Whether you’re an individual developer or part of a large team, mastering Git is essential for any modern software development role. Unfortunately, Git is notoriously difficult to learn due to its complex and unintuitive interface. However, with diligent practice of the techniques in this guide, you’ll soon be taking full advantage of Git’s abilities for managing code, automating tasks, and working seamlessly with others.

We’ll start with Git fundamentals to build your foundations – learning core commands, concepts like the three main states, and best practices for day-to-day usage. Then we’ll delve into more powerful tools – using branches effectively, resolving merges cleanly, and collaborating flawlessly on GitHub or GitLab. You’ll also discover workflow strategies like Gitflow to streamline team processes. By the end, not only will you be a better programmer, but also a more efficient one. So let’s get started on your journey to Git mastery!

Understanding Git Basics

Before diving into advanced Git, it’s crucial to have a solid grasp of the fundamentals. This section will explain key concepts like the three states, typical workflows, and important basic commands.

The Three States of Git

At its core, Git focuses on tracking changes to files over time. It does this through three main states that files can reside in:

• Modified – Files have been changed but not yet staged.
• Staged – Changes have been staged to go into your next commit.
• Committed – Changes have been saved to your local repository’s database.

Understanding how files transition between these three states is essential for using Git properly. Let’s now look at common workflows and commands related to them.

Basic Workflow

A typical basic usage cycle in Git would be:

1. Modify files in your working directory
2. Stage changed files using git add
3. Commit staged changes locally with git commit
4. Pull latest changes from remote with git pull
5. Push your commits to remote with git push

This covers the core local and remote collaboration aspects of Git. Let’s go over some other important basic commands.

Additional Basic Commands

A few other commands that are helpful for everyday Git use include:

• git status – Check status of files in the three stages
• git log – View history of commits
• git diff – See differences between commits or local changes
• git checkout – Switch branches or restore files
• git branch – List, add or delete branches
• git merge – Merge remote work into local branch

Mastering these core Git concepts and commands will lay the foundation for leveraging Git’s more advanced capabilities covered later in this guide.

Optimising Workflows with Branches

Branches are one of Git’s most powerful features, enabling developers to work on different versions of code simultaneously. When used strategically, they can optimise collaboration and workflows tremendously.

This section explains branches in depth and recommends best practices for using them successfully on teams.

What are Branches?

In Git, a branch refers to an independent line of development. The default branch is usually called main. By creating new branches off main, you can isolate work and easily switch between efforts.

All branches should be envisioned as leading back to and having an upstream connection with main. Well-structured branching allows teams to logically organise divergent work, collaborate on focused features/fixes, and integrate changes smoothly.

Common Branching Strategies

Some common branching patterns include:

• Feature Branches – Created for each new feature and merged back into main after.
• Bugfix Branches – Used to resolve issues without affecting main.
• Release Branches – For final testing before integration into main.
• Hotfix Branches – To quickly patch main without disrupting in-progress feature work.

Proper use of branching keeps main deployment-ready and allows teams to work on isolated increments of work in parallel.

Good Branching Practices

To get the most value from branches, follow some guidelines:

• Keep branches focused in scope and purpose
• Frequently merge upstream changes to prevent merge conflicts
• Regularly merge completed branches back into main
• Use descriptive branch names to communicate intent
• Delete branches once merged/work is completed
• Use pull requests to streamline code review workflow

Using branches strategically in this way will elevate your Git skills and enable highly effective coding practices.

Optimise Collaboration with GitHub/GitLab

While Git allows local development, true power comes from using Git-based platforms for team collaboration. GitHub and GitLab give developers modern workflows for code review, project planning and more.

This section explores best practices for leveraging such services along with Git to collaborate at scale.

Using GitHub/GitLab Repositories

Benefits of hosting code on GitHub/GitLab include:

• Central codebase for whole team access
• Robust security and permissions control
• Code review via pull requests
• Integrated issue tracking, wikis and more
• Automation through CI/CD pipelines
• Seamlessly publish open source projects

Whether open source or private, leveraging these services elevates developer workflows.

Additional Collaboration Tools

Platform features like:

• Wiki for documentation
• Project boards for planning
• Integrations with project management software
• Chat for real-time discussions
• Activity feeds to track changes

Further power team collaboration when combined with proper Git usage.

Best Practices

Guidelines for smooth collaboration via GitHub/GitLab include:

• Communicate early and often via issues/commits
• Break work into focused, reviewable units
• Fully review and discuss all code changes
• Address feedback to merge pull requests
• Keep branches and repos organised
• Adopt team conventions for consistency

Adhering to principles unlocks the full potential these services provide for distributed software teams.

Mastering Git Workflows at Scale

As projects grow larger, proper Git workflows become critical. This section outlines some of the most popular ways larger teams scale version control using Git.

Gitflow Workflow

Gitflow is a disciplined branching strategy that scales nicely:

• main – Stable code released to production
• develop – Integrates feature work for testing
• feature/* – Branches for features that merge to develop
• release/* – Release branches from develop that merge to main
• hotfix/* – Patch branches from main that also merge back

Strict conventions save time resolving conflicts.

Other Workflows

Alternatives include:

• Trunk-Based Development (TBD) – All work done on main for simplicity
• Forking Model – Individual repos that pull upstream changes
• Centralised Workflow – Central repo where devs push changesets

Choose based on needs – small teams may prefer TBD while large distros require Gitflow.

Additional Optimisation

At scale, leverage Git’s power with:

• Pre-commit hooks to automatically format/lint
• Config hooks to enforce standards
• Fast forwards for streamlined integration of changes
• Rebase over merge to produce cleaner history
• Custom scripts to automate routine tasks

Scale by continually reviewing pipelines and optimising processes.

Conclusion

You’ve now learned the fundamentals, advanced techniques, and best practices to start wielding Git’s power as a pro developer. However, true mastery comes from diligent practice- so start implementing these strategies on your real world projects.

Don’t be afraid to experiment as you’ll inevitably encounter new challenges – that’s where Git’s flexibility really shines. Soon collaborating through pull requests will feel intuitive, and automating common workflows will save you precious minutes each day. But the journey never ends, so keep learning, sharing lessons, and perfecting your craft.

With Git as your versatile partner, software development can become an effortless exercise of focus and flow. Now go forth and code fearlessly!