learnGitBranching

# LearnGitBranching

[![PRs Welcome](https://img.shields.io/badge/PRs-welcome-brightgreen.svg?)](https://github.com/pcottle/learnGitBranching/pulls)

LearnGitBranching is a git repository visualizer, sandbox, and a series of educational tutorials and challenges. Its primary purpose is to help developers understand git through the power of visualization (something that's absent when working on the command line). This is achieved through a game with different levels to get acquainted with the different git commands.

You can input a variety of commands into LearnGitBranching (LGB) -- as commands are processed, the nearby commit tree will dynamically update to reflect the effects of each command:

![demo-gif](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/6324814/108740487-02c3c400-7536-11eb-9dd1-53275cdf76fb.gif)

This visualization combined with tutorials and "levels" can help both beginners and intermediate developers polish their version control skills. A quick demo is available here:
https://pcottle.github.io/learnGitBranching/?demo

Or, you can launch the application normally here:
https://pcottle.github.io/learnGitBranching/

### Sandbox Mode

By default the application launches in "sandbox mode" with a basic repository already created. Here you can enter commands and mess around with a repository as much as you like. Keep in mind you can

* `undo` to undo the effects of the last command
* `reset` to start over with a clean slate (works in levels too)
* `git fakeCreateRemote` to simulate creating a remote repository!

Sandbox mode can be great for demonstrating something to a friend, but the real learning is with levels...

## Levels

Type `levels` to see the available lessons / challenges (and which ones you have solved so far). Each level series aims to teach some high-level git concept, and each tab of levels separates major worlds of info (like remote repositories versus local).

For some added fun, there is a "git golf" concept where we keep track of how many commands you use to solve each level. See if you can match all of our records!

### Sharing permalinks

You can share a link to LearnGitBranching with an arbitrary set of commands that will execute upon load by using the `command` URL parameter. You will also likely want to disable the intro dialog for this case with the `NODEMO` url param; here is [an example](https://learngitbranching.js.org/?NODEMO&command=echo%20%22hello%22;%20git%20commit) to get started.

### Level Builder

You can build levels with the `build level` command. A dialog will walk you through the process, and at the end it will show you a JSON blob that represents the level you just created. Paste that in a [gist](https://gist.github.com) or directly into an issue and I can check it out / merge in your changes! You can also share this level directly with friends by having them run `import level` and paste the JSON in the resulting text field, or simply send them a custom URL with the gist ID in the parameters, like so