[brainbag]

I've also taught git to dozens of beginners in a classroom setting, and I have to agree that the OP and GP articles aren't great for beginners, even if they have a technical background. The problem I have with git media is that everybody begins by teaching git's user interface, which is a usability disaster. On the other hand, the internals of git are elegant and simple, and if you start by teaching from the inside out, it makes it far easier to understand why and when we use certain commands.

The video you mentioned, "Git For Ages 4 And Up" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m7BgIvC-uQ, is the best resource for explaining how it works internally, once they have a rudimentary understanding of what git is and why we use it. Watching this video makes future explanations way more digestible. I still sometimes conceptualize difficult git operations in tinker toys.

I highly recommend it even to experienced people.

[karmakaze]

Learning git was one of the harder things I've encountered having already used many VCS beforehand. Then one day it all clicked because I'd subconsciously re-engineered in my head how things must be connected under the covers--I wished someone told me to learn about it's internal model. Learning git from commands and workflow is like learning about the world from shadows seen while chained inside a cave.