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Comment by dmeagor | Hacker News Reader

Utter crap. We used git from the command line for about a month and its a total pain. How these command line fanatics think its easier to manually pull and merge the latest version from the repository, add 10 files then commit and push is easier than clicking 'pull' and then 'commit with push' using something like smartgit is beyond me. My guess is they just used the GUI that comes with git, concluded it was rubbish (which it is), gave up and used the command line with all the silly switches you're supposed to memorize.

My advice, if you're the sort of person that uses vim then stick with the command line. Otherwise download a GUI and spend the time learning something useful instead.

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GUIs are for abstracting details the user doesn't need to know about.

I would argue that revision control is too important to try and hide the details from its users. I imagine that a GUI that only accounts for best-case-scenarios and 90% tasks is a great way to shoot yourself in the foot when your repo gets into a dangerous state.

Agreed. Every time git comes up on HN there seem to be a lot of people making arguments that boil down to "I don't want to know the details of my revision control tool's user interface", and it really puzzles me. All software development is aimed at the production and maintenance of source code, and revision control is how you manage and understand its evolution through time. Aren't hackers meant to be curious about everything? Aren't hackers meant to be experts in computing tools? Why wouldn't hackers want to know the intimate details of one of their most important tools?

I agree with you.

reply to op: A gui which covers 80% cases is way better than doing everything from command line, saves a lot of cognitive overload. If it's one of those 20% cases, ya, please you can fall back to command line. No, guis are not developed for those 20% percent cases; even if they did, they usually are painful like commandline as well.

If you don't know how to use the command line, that's fine, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that most developers here do, and it's not because they are all dumb. The overwhelming point of my article is that you should be learning how to use the command line, as it is an indispensable tool for developers. If you don't agree with that, argue with me on that point. And if you want to argue with me on that point, learn to use command line well first, make a balanced assessment, then come back and argue it.

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