IT Bootcamp

Sometimes, the latest and greatest version of the software should not be made available to public straight away. To manage different versions of software, developers use GIT branches. Each branch contains an a specific and complete version of the software.

With conflicts resolved, and updates merged, the new version of the software is released to the public with deployment. The new deployment is typically triggered by saying “ship it” to another developer. If it's Friday afternoon, you'll also need to add “fuck it”.

GIT conflict is a dramatic name for a not-so-dramatic event of computer asking humans for help. Developers review parts of conflicting updates. And decide which are the correct bits of code to keep. Developers resolve GIT conflicts daily. Yet, sometimes, still fear them.

Most times, merging a PR is straight-forward. Even if two people work on the same file, GIT can usually combine the updates automatically. So that nobody’s work gets lost. When it's unclear how to combine updates though, a conflict happens. No literally.

When a developer is done with their chunk of work, they create a pull request, aka PR. "Requesting" their new work to be integrated into the latest version of the software. Their colleagues review the work, add comments and suggest fixes. When everyone is happy, the PR is merged.

GIT is what developers use to organise and save their work. It allows many people to work on the same file simultaneously. And keep track of every change to the software they are building. So that they can always tell who did what, when and why.

Developers often lose their laptops which is why they prefer to have their work stored online in a repository. Repository is like a folder on Google Drive or Dropbox. Devs each have a local copy of this folder on their machine and save any changes to it with GIT.

Website is made a bunch of files stored on a server. They are mostly text files. When you visit a website, the website address is used to find the correct server and then the server finds the right files and sends them to your browser.

Server is a computer which is on 24/7. It usually doesn't have a keyboard. Or a screen. It's just a box. You access it remotely via the internet or some other network.