I stopped pretending as if I know what I am doing and instead use visual Git tools, such as SmartGit or the one that comes with IntelliJ. Being a Git "command-line hero" is for show offs.
Porcelain can be just infuriatingly confusing. For example, "Yours and Theirs" can mean the opposite in different contexts. The whole user interface has no common style or theme - it needs a new "visual" layer in order to not drive one up the wall.
Same. Having the diff all the time is nice, and a visual check at a glance of what is about to happen is very nice, without the need to run a bunch of extra commands.
I know enough about the app, and git in general, to get my job done. On the rare occasion I need more, I can look it up. I think I’ve only had to do that once or twice in all the years I’ve been using it.
Same here. Personally for everyday tasks I always use a visual Git tool, specifically Tortoise Git.
For complex tasks, like fixing someone else's mess (or my own), I always start with a visual tool to look at the history and the commits, also look at the reflog (again, in a visual tool, it's much faster for me), understand what the mess is and if I can find anything to salvage, look at some diffs.
Then if it's just a commit I need to return to, I do a reset --hard. If I need to combine stuff from several commits, then I usually use the commandline.
These are not mutually exclusive. I share your sentiment in that I only use visual tools for diffs and conflicts and stuff, but I’ve gained a lot from learning about commit objects, reflogs, what a rebase does in the background, interactive rebases, hard/soft resets, etc
Porcelain can be just infuriatingly confusing. For example, "Yours and Theirs" can mean the opposite in different contexts. The whole user interface has no common style or theme - it needs a new "visual" layer in order to not drive one up the wall.