This week, we had the chance to watch an in-depth demo by our professor on Git essentials. Rather than diving into the exercises ourselves, we observed the entire process—from creating a new repository to working with branches and merge conflicts. The demo was both enlightening and a real-world showcase of how version control can be managed efficiently.

The professor started by setting up a simple repository, walking us through initializing it with git init, adding files like fun.txt with a few jokes, and making our very first commit. We saw how the Git command line reveals the repository’s state using commands like git status and git log, making it easy to track changes.

Next, the demo moved into exploring Git’s branching capabilities. We watched as the professor created a new branch called potential_jokes, switched between branches with git checkout, and even demonstrated how changes in one branch don’t affect the other until a merge is performed. When it came time to merge branches, the professor even simulated a merge conflict by editing the same file on different branches. This provided a great live lesson on resolving conflicts either manually or with a merge tool.

Another highlight was learning about Git’s underlying structure. The professor used commands like git cat-file to show how files and commits are stored, and git diff to compare changes between commits. Even though we didn’t try these commands ourselves, watching the demo made it clear how Git organizes our work and how every change is carefully recorded.

Overall, this demo was a fantastic opportunity to see Git in action, and it has definitely piqued my interest in mastering these tools for our future projects.

On the extension front, we got a peek at some truly innovative projects from our classmates. Here’s a quick rundown: • Team 1, Colorize: Their idea to change text color to a rainbow effect really brought a splash of creativity to the table, paired with a detailed CONTRIBUTING page. • Team 2, Virtual Pet: Who knew feeding a cat could be so interactive? Watching the cursor morph into a cake was both amusing and clever. • Team 3, Website Time Tracker: I loved how they tackled time management on websites, even borrowing the “No Code of Conduct” twist. • Team 4, Meowtivation: Random cat GIFs and a fancy announcement page? Talk about purr-sonalized motivation! • Team 5, Quick Notes: The ability to render Markdown & LaTeX and even download your notes locally made me wish I had such an organizer. • Team 6, I Did That Extension: Nothing like a Trump meme and some creative mirroring to keep things interesting. • Team 7, Browser Scroller: Infinite scroll, auto-scroll, and even a nod to Discord for communication—this one felt modern and super connected. • Team 8, GitHelper: While it mostly covered basic Git commands (not the flashiest, admittedly), it’s a reminder that sometimes simple tools are the most essential. • Team 10, Unit Converter: A cool GUI with real-time currency conversion had me impressed with the level of detail and user-friendliness.

Reflecting on the week, my biggest takeaway from our own group work was learning the art of dividing jobs in a team of four. I’m used to working individually or in pairs, so finding our rhythm took a bit of trial and error. Once we nailed down our roles, though, everything fell into place, and we managed to build our extension smoothly.

Watching other groups, one thing stood out: the level of detail in their CONTRIBUTING and README files. Compared to our project, it’s clear we could tighten up our documentation to be more user-friendly and professional. It’s a lesson in how thorough documentation not only helps collaborators but also makes your project more approachable to everyone.

All in all, this week’s mix of Git exercises and extension presentations was a valuable learning experience. Whether untangling merge conflicts or drawing inspiration from our peers’ innovative ideas, I’m excited to carry these lessons into our future projects. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to grow, learn, and innovate together!