Checkpoint: Developer Workflow

The Git checkpoint — five questions spanning the whole module: concept checks, a command sequence, and one debugging scenario. Nothing new is taught here; this is where the workflow becomes yours.

Before you move on: the self-check

The challenge proves you can do; this list checks you can explain. Answer each out loud, as if teaching a teammate:

• What a commit actually records — and why "save my work" is the wrong mental model.
• The difference between your working folder, the staging area, and the repository, and which git command moves changes between each pair.
• Why commits are cheap snapshots rather than growing copies of your whole project.
• What a branch isolates, and how merging brings finished work back into main.
• What a pull request is for on GitHub, beyond "sending code somewhere".

If a question fails

Read the failure message fully, then use the hints — Hint 1 names the concept, not the command. If you still cannot see it, redo the specific lesson's challenge from a blank editor rather than re-reading everything. Retaking the checkpoint is normal practice.

This is exactly the workflow you will use on your final project, so get it fluent now.

After passing: how modern websites actually work — the architecture tour.