Web Development Version Control 3

Question 1

What is the difference between `git reset --soft`, `--mixed`, and `--hard`?

Accepted Answer

Soft keeps staged+working changes, mixed unstages them, hard discards all changes

Answer

`--soft` moves HEAD but keeps the index and working tree; `--mixed` also unstages; `--hard` discards all local changes.

Question 2

What is a Git 'tag' primarily used for?

Accepted Answer

Marking specific points in history as important, such as version releases

Answer

Tags create named references to specific commits, most commonly used to mark release versions like v1.0.0.

Question 3

Which command would you use to see what changes are staged for the next commit?

Accepted Answer

git diff --cached

Answer

`git diff --cached` (or `--staged`) shows the difference between the index (staging area) and the last commit.

Question 4

What does a 'fast-forward' merge mean in Git?

Accepted Answer

The target branch pointer simply moves forward to the source branch tip, no merge commit needed

Answer

A fast-forward merge is possible when the target branch has no new commits since the source branch diverged, so no merge commit is created.

Question 5

What does `git blame <file>` show?

Accepted Answer

Each line of a file annotated with the commit and author that last modified it

Answer

`git blame` shows line-by-line authorship and commit information for a file, useful for tracking when a line was introduced.

Web Development Practice Test