Why You Should Use a Git Client [Article]

When you’re studying this, you’re in all probability already acquainted with Git and code internet hosting platforms like GitHub. If not, take a look at this nice introduction to Model Management!

I’m nicely conscious that studying Git isn’t as interesting as studying JavaScript or Python. However its advantages are clear:

1. It helps to know “who” did “what” to the mission in order that we are able to clearly see how it’s evolving.
2. It permits us to collaborate simply by simplifying the method of including our personal code modifications and reviewing contributions from others.
3. It acts as a backup software, making it simple to revive earlier variations of the mission or particular information.

As you progress in your coding journey, you’ll change into more and more acquainted with creating commits and reviewing pull requests. And as expertise has proven me, you’ll quickly notice that whereas the Command-Line Interface (CLI) may be a tremendous companion for a lot of programming duties, it will not be essentially the most user-friendly software for working with Git.

I’m sure of this as a result of I work at Tower — a desktop Git consumer for Mac and Home windows. And that is precisely the kind of suggestions we hear each day from our customers.

On this submit, let’s take a look on the high 5 options that I believe are price highlighting for any Treehouse scholar. As a former Treehouse pupil myself, I’m thrilled to say that we are going to additionally offer an unique Coupon Code so that you could get Tower at a extra inexpensive worth.

Maintain studying!

1. Undo

Git permits you to roll again in time and undo any operation. The issue is that memorizing Git instructions is laborious.

With Tower, you’ll be able to merely press “CMD+Z” (or “CTRL+Z” in the event you’re on Home windows) to simply undo any motion, akin to a commit creation, a department deletion, or a merge.

When you get used to it, it’s laborious to return to the terminal (or every other Git consumer, for that matter). It simply works!

Git may be intimidating, and most of that worry comes from being afraid of messing issues up. Figuring out you’ll be able to undo something is a large confidence booster for somebody who simply needs to deal with programming, not model management.

2. Creating Higher Commits

In Git, it’s crucial to create small, granular commits in order that your crew (and your future-self) can shortly grasp the adjustments launched to the mission. It is best to keep away from making giant commits with a number of unrelated adjustments and go for a extra centered strategy as an alternative.

Within the CLI, that is simpler mentioned than achieved. However, with Tower, you’ll be able to very simply stage chunks and even simply single traces by clicking and dragging the traces you wish to embody within the commit.

When you make a mistake, you’ll be able to simply right-click to edit the commit message or amend it so as to add a forgotten file. And for extra superior duties, like interactive rebase, you should use drag and drop to rearrange the order of commits or mix them right into a single commit (often known as “squash” in Git-land).

That is the place I consider Git may be actually useful: when you’ve got a well-documented mission historical past that may be a pleasure to learn!

3. Distant Companies Integration

Tower helps all the favored code internet hosting platforms, akin to:

• GitHub
• BitBucket
• Azure
• GitLab
• and even distant servers!

When you’re linked, you’ll be able to clone any repository with a single click on to stand up and working, pull or push adjustments, and publish a brand new repository.

You may as well handle Pull Requests with out leaving the appliance — that’s proper, in the event you’re already ready of reviewing your colleague’s code, you’ll be able to take a look at the adjustments, merge, and shut the PR seamlessly inside the consumer.

4. Visualizing Diffs

Having the ability to shortly visualize what modified is without doubt one of the most necessary benefits of a Git Graphical Consumer Interface (GUI). With Tower, you’ll be able to customise your expertise by enabling syntax highlighting (which helps over 200 programming languages!), altering colour themes, and adjusting your most popular tab width.

When you work with photographs as nicely, you’ll be pleased to study that Tower additionally offers a before-and-after comparability characteristic, permitting you to verify whether or not the brand new picture meets your expectations.

Tower reveals the diff for PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, JPEG2000, and HEIC codecs. We discovered this characteristic very helpful throughout our latest rebranding course of!

5. Improved Productiveness

In Git, you can find that many actions are fairly repetitive. Take “fetching”, as an example. It is best to carry out this motion periodically to know if there have been any updates made to the repository. In any other case, you gained’t be capable of push your adjustments or know what’s new!

These duties may be cumbersome and simple to neglect. Tower is all about automating the boring stuff, so it routinely fetches the most recent adjustments from the repository for you.

“Stashing” is one other good instance. You all the time must stash your adjustments earlier than trying out a unique department, as you will have skilled in the event you’ve tried doing this through the command line. It’s another command to recollect… except you’re utilizing Tower, which lets you merely double-click a department to stash your adjustments and immediately reapply them within the new department.

And in the event you like getting issues achieved with out leaving the keyboard, you’ll love Fast Actions – Tower’s implementation of the favored Command Palette. It is a nice choice to shortly take a look at to a department, examine a file, or just change to gentle or darkish mode!

Conclusion

As you’ll be able to see, Tower can enhance your Git-game in some ways that will help you change into a greater developer.

Be sure to give it a attempt on Mac or Home windows. It’s free for 30 days – no bank card required!

If you find yourself liking it, use the code “TREEHOUSE25” for a 25% low cost on any Tower plan. This code is barely legitimate for brand new Tower customers and can be utilized for the primary 12 months of the subscription.

Blissful committing! ✌️