git-workshop/module-01-basics/README.md

Module 01: Git Basics

Learning Objectives

• Understand what a git repository is
• Learn the basic git workflow: modify → stage → commit
• Use git status to check repository state
• Use git add to stage changes
• Use git commit to save changes

Challenge

In this challenge, you'll learn the fundamental git workflow.

Setup

Run the setup script to prepare the challenge:

.\setup.ps1

This will create a directory called challenge with some files that need to be committed.

Your Task

Your goal is to commit both welcome.txt and instructions.txt to a git repository. Here's a suggested approach:

1. Navigate into the challenge directory: cd challenge
2. Initialize a new git repository: git init (this is your first step!)
3. Check the status of your repository: git status
4. Stage the files you want to commit: git add welcome.txt (or git add . to stage all files)
5. Create a commit: git commit -m "Your commit message"
6. Verify both files are committed: git ls-tree -r HEAD --name-only

Important Notes:

• The challenge directory is NOT a git repository until you run git init. This is intentional - you're learning to start from scratch!
• You can commit both files together in one commit, or separately in multiple commits - it's up to you!
• The verification script checks that both files are committed, not the specific commit messages or order

Key Concepts

• Repository: A directory tracked by git, containing your project files and their history
• Working Directory: The files you see and edit
• Staging Area (Index): A preparation area for your next commit
• Commit: A snapshot of your staged changes

Useful Commands

git init                           # Initialize a new git repository
git status                         # Show the working tree status
git add <file>                     # Stage a specific file for commit
git add .                          # Stage all files in current directory
git commit -m "<message>"          # Create a commit with a message
git ls-tree -r HEAD --name-only    # List all files in the latest commit
git log                            # View commit history

Verification

Once you think you've completed the challenge, run:

.\verify.ps1

This will check if you've successfully completed all the steps.

Need to Start Over?

If you want to reset the challenge and start fresh, run:

.\reset.ps1

This will remove your challenge directory and set up a new one.