This is another “command I always forget and want a reference to” post.
To delete a remote branch, type: git push origin :<branch name>.
Archive for the ‘project management’ category
Deleting a remote branch it git
December 18th, 2008Git, GitHub, and Windows
August 4th, 2008A blog post isn’t quite the format in which to go into the length details of why, so it sufficeth me to say that Git is great source control software. Local commits. 1 command to initialize a repo. Branching and merging isn’t so ridiculous that you never do it.
GitHub also seems pretty neat, though I confess to be a GitHub newb (or noob– I forget which is derogatory. I don’t mean that one). GitHub allows free hosting of open-source Git repositories. I don’t really plan on making the project I’m working on open source– and for no particular reason– so that’ll get changed when I want to close things down. It does cost money to host closed-source projects. Point being, off-site backup is a Good Thing, a quality especially noticeable when one accidental rm -Rf’s their repository. Oops. Good thing I had basically only clicked New Project in Visual Studio.
So, this post is supposed to matter because you get some useful information and not just some narcissism. If you’re a Windows user at least part of the time, it’s readily apparent that Git wasn’t written for Windows users. Do the author check. It’s slightly confusing to get Git working, and rather than re-invent the wheel– though I’m not afraid of beating dead clichés– checkout the work of some dude named Kyle Cordes.
His post works as advertised. I did skip all the bit about being added to his repository, as I wanted to do my own. Also, I stopped the whole thing at “Approach 1: GUI.” It was pretty easy getting the repo into git-hub by following git-hub’s instructions.
The journey of 1000 miles…
May 25th, 2008…begins with the first step, sure, but what the proverb forgets to mention is that the 1st step is often 999 miles long.
I am a *chuckle* Software Engineer. I prefer the term computer programmer because I don’t like title bloat, and to compare my work to, say, what a bridge builder does would be an insult to the bridge builder. Don’t get me wrong– I take pride in my work, and I believe I do a good job. Yet, no one is going to die if I missed checking for a nil object. Now if I worked for NASA, that would be a different story.
Revenons à nos moutons. Being the sort of tech-minded person that I am, I don’t like using something unless I understand it. The best way for me to understand a technical thing is to reverse engineer it. Now, I think blogging software is pretty complicated. There’s a lot that goes into it– little details to keep track of. So, I’ve never wanted to maintain a blog without writing a blogging engine first.
However, I have (been overcoming) this fear of not starting anything because I might do it wrong the first time. This fear has stopped countless projects in their infancy.
And that is STUPID!
Oh my gosh! I might make a mistake. And as a result, *shudder* learn something. Run in horror.
Of course, the problem is that nothing ever gets done. But, I recently changed jobs from writing device drivers at National Instruments to a more agile company*, where I’ve learned the value in incremental development. I may not have written this blogging software, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t write one later.
So to recap the main points:
- The first step is the longest/hardest
- It’s okay to mess up the first time – you probably did when you learned to walk
- Using WordPress isn’t a cop out
In fact, that last point is much more eloquently put forth by Frederick P. Brooks in The Mythical Man Month. More specifically that chapter named, “Plan to throw the 1st one away,” or something of the sort. I highly, HIGHLY recommend that book to anyone who does software first and foremost, but there is insight to be gained by everyone in that tome.
* – I will never actually name my current employer because I am an opinionated person politically, and to be sure those opinions will show up here from time to time. My employer doesn’t seem to enforce mental conformity, but there are companies that do. I love my job, and more importantly I love my family. The latter is somewhat dependent on the former, let’s say, and I’m not willing to jeopardize their well-being, for a freaking blog of all things.
