Session 3 Readings and Responses

The readings and responses listed here should take you approximately 20 minutes total.

To start this assignment:

1. Click the button in the upper right-hand corner that says Fork. This is now your copy of this document.
2. Click the Edit button when you're ready to start adding your answers.
3. To save your work, click the green button in the bottom right-hand corner. You can always come back and re-edit your gist.

Slack Shortcuts and Features (10 min)

Use Google to go find at least one online resource detailing keyboard shortcuts and/or features that are built into Slack.

• What resource(s) did you find? Paste them below:

1. The get.slack.help site has all of their shortcuts listed on this page: https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/201374536-Slack-keyboard-shortcuts.
2. I also found a good page on shortcutfoo.com that seems to list the most useful slack keyboard shortcuts. https://www.shortcutfoo.com/app/dojos/slack-win/cheatsheet

• What are three Slack shortcuts and/or features that will contribute to your productivity?

1. Command + T opens the "quick switcher", which is kind of the finder of the slack app. This is super useful as it allows me to quickly search for other slack users or channels on the fly!
2. Command + Shift + E opens up the slack directory, which is also another great way to find turing slack channels and members!
3. Command + U is the shortcut for uploading files. I think this will help me quickly upload my screenshots and documents to slack, greatly increasing productivity.
4. Command + Shift + \ allows you to quickly access the emoji menu! This one may not increase productivity a ton but I think it's super useful nonetheless@
5. Command + , quickly accesses slacks preference controls. Slack has many great preference options that I will most likely play around with quite a bit, so this will be a huge time saver.

What's the use of the staging area in git? on Stackoverflow (10 min)

The idea of the staging area is frequently one of the trickiest concepts to wrap your head around when you're first learning git. Read the question and answers (or do your own Googling on the git staging area). Then, create your own metaphor comparing the staging area to something in real life.

• Type your metaphor below:

I have scoured the internet for peoples interpretations of how git works and it's really help me get a grasp on how staging works and what it's purpose is. I like to the think of the staging area and 'commits' to car shopping. You may test drive cars and look at various models, 'adding' them to your staging area where you contemplate your options and outcomes. Once you are ready to buy a car and take it home, you are 'commiting' to that decision and bring it home to your garage or 'repository'. Obviously this metaphor doesn't cover the complexity of what git can do, but I think it's a decent way of considering why and how you have a staging area, and what a 'commit' is used for.

Questions/Comments/Confusions

If you have any questions, comments, or confusions that you would an instructor to address, list them below:

1. The staging area was pretty confusing at first, but I'm really starting to understand it now when I think of it in the context of working on a coding project. The staging area allows you to review and commit to individual parts of a project. It's a great way to chunk parts of a project and not have to make a ton of changes all at once. I think as we start using git more with real coding projects, I will become very comfortable with this concept.