Git from zero to hero: first commits
Part 1 of the Git guide: what Git is, a one-time setup, a first repository, the three areas a change passes through and the four states of a file.
Dev tools: zero to hero
Guides that build one project step by step, in short posts. Git, GitHub, Docker, GitHub Actions, Kubernetes and AWS, in the order you meet them.
26 parts
- Part 1
- Part 2
Git from zero to hero: reading diffs and history
Part 2 of the Git guide: how to read git diff, what each diff command compares, good commit messages, git log, and what a commit really contains.
- Part 3
Git from zero to hero: undoing mistakes
Part 3 of the Git guide: naming commits (HEAD~1, HEAD^2, HEAD@{2}), detached HEAD, and the right undo for each mistake: restore, amend, reset, revert and reflog.
- Part 4
Git from zero to hero: branches, merging and conflicts
Part 4 of the Git guide: what a branch really is, fast-forward and merge commits, how a three-way merge decides, and how to resolve a conflict calmly.
- Part 5
Git from zero to hero: rebase and handy tools
Part 5 of the Git guide: rebase and the one rule that comes with it, interactive rebase to tidy commits, then stash, cherry-pick, bisect and .gitignore.
- Part 6
Git from zero to hero: remotes and GitHub
Part 6 of the Git guide: clone, push, fetch and pull, remote-tracking branches and ahead/behind, what to do when a push is rejected, force-with-lease and tags.
- Part 7
GitHub from zero to hero: account, SSH and a first push
Part 1 of the GitHub guide: what GitHub adds to Git, creating a repository, signing in with gh, an SSH key or a token, and putting a project online.
- Part 8
GitHub from zero to hero: the GitHub flow and pull requests
Part 2 of the GitHub guide: the GitHub flow step by step, a good pull request, reviewing with comments and suggestions, and the three ways to merge.
- Part 9
GitHub from zero to hero: issues, forks and a protected main
Part 3 of the GitHub guide: issues and labels, contributing to someone else's project through a fork, branch protection, CODEOWNERS and keeping a repository safe.
- Part 10
GitHub from zero to hero: Actions, Pages and releases
Part 4 of the GitHub guide: a first Actions workflow, secrets and permissions, publishing a site with GitHub Pages, releases with generated notes, Codespaces and Copilot.
- Part 11
Docker from zero to hero: images, containers and your first run
What Docker is, images, containers and registries, how containers differ from VMs, installing it, running and managing your first container, and image tags.
- Part 12
Docker from zero to hero: a Dockerfile for your own app
Containerizing a small Node app: writing a Dockerfile and .dockerignore, building and running it, layers and the build cache, multi-stage builds, and CMD versus ENTRYPOINT.
- Part 13
Docker from zero to hero: ports, volumes and networks
Connecting containers to the world: publishing ports safely, volumes, bind mounts and tmpfs, user-defined networks for containers that talk by name, and passing configuration and secrets.
- Part 14
Docker from zero to hero: Compose, debugging and cleanup
Running the app and its database from one compose.yaml with health checks, the Compose commands, a debugging toolbox, freeing disk space, and habits for production images.
- Part 15
GitHub Actions from zero to hero: your first workflow and events
What GitHub Actions is, the parts of a workflow, a first CI workflow for a Node project, reading runs with gh, and the events that start a workflow: push, pull_request, manual and scheduled.
- Part 16
GitHub Actions from zero to hero: jobs, expressions, matrix and caching
Growing a workflow: job options, jobs that wait for each other, expressions and contexts, passing values between steps and jobs, matrix builds, caches and artifacts.
- Part 17
GitHub Actions from zero to hero: secrets, permissions and deployments
Secrets and variables, the GITHUB_TOKEN and its permissions, environments with required reviewers, deploying to a cloud with OIDC instead of stored keys, and a pipeline that pushes a Docker image.
- Part 18
GitHub Actions from zero to hero: reuse, security and debugging
Reusable workflows and composite actions, concurrency groups, the security habits that keep a workflow from becoming a back door, debugging a failed run, and what Actions costs.
- Part 19
Kubernetes from zero to hero: clusters, Pods and manifests
What Kubernetes is and the desired-state idea, the parts of a cluster, a local cluster with kind, a first Pod, and how manifests describe objects in YAML.
- Part 20
Kubernetes: Deployments, Services and getting traffic in
Run hello-app as a Deployment that keeps three copies alive, give it a stable address with a Service, compare Service types, and route outside traffic with Gateway API or Ingress.
- Part 21
Kubernetes: rolling updates, config, probes and autoscaling
Update hello-app without downtime and roll back, pass settings with ConfigMaps and Secrets, add readiness and liveness probes, set requests and limits, and scale with an HPA.
- Part 22
Kubernetes: storage, namespaces, debugging and Helm
Persistent volumes and StatefulSets, namespaces and kubectl contexts, a debugging routine with the common Pod statuses, Kustomize and Helm, and a production checklist.
- Part 23
AWS from zero to hero: the map and a safe account
What AWS is and the shared responsibility model, Regions and Availability Zones, protecting the root user, the free plan, and a budget before you create anything.
- Part 24
AWS: IAM, the CLI and S3
Users, roles and policies in IAM and the best practices that matter, signing in to the AWS CLI with short-term credentials and profiles, and storing files in S3 buckets safely.
- Part 25
AWS: EC2 servers, VPC networks and RDS databases
Launching and connecting to an EC2 instance and what it costs, a VPC with public and private subnets across two zones, and a managed RDS database the internet can't reach.
- Part 26
AWS: Lambda, monitoring and avoiding surprise bills
Running code on events with Lambda, watching it with CloudWatch and CloudTrail, which service to reach for, and the five causes of nearly every surprise AWS bill.