AI App Development from Zero Knowledge – 1000 Hours #2: The Next Monster is Git!

Last time, I finally managed to set up my development environment. I thought I could relax.
I was so, so wrong.

This time, I faced Git, a terrifying beast that nearly broke me.
I had no idea that this thing would become my lifelong companion on this coding journey.

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VSCode? React? What Even Are These?

Before we dive into Git, let’s clear up a few things.
If you're thinking, "Wait, why are we suddenly talking about VSCode and React?"—don't worry. Let me explain.

• VSCode (Visual Studio Code) → Think of it as your digital workbench where you write, edit, and run your code.
• React → A tool for building web applications. My To-Do List app? This is the magic that powers it.
• Git → A "save button" for your code. It lets you track changes, revert to previous versions, and work across multiple devices. Imagine it as a time-traveling spellbook for developers.

"Oh, so Git makes everything safer and more manageable?"

That’s what I thought—right before I descended into absolute hell.

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Git? Version Control? Do I Really Need This?

"Install Git," they said.

Every tutorial, every blog post insisted on it. But I was skeptical.

"Why? I’m working solo. Do I really need version control?"

At the time, I didn’t get it. And oh, how I would regret that ignorance later.

So, let me leave a note for my future self:
"If you don’t install Git, you won’t be able to undo your mistakes. You will suffer. A lot."

Git is basically an ultra-powerful Ctrl+Z—it lets you keep track of changes, restore lost files, and manage multiple project versions. If something goes wrong, you can rewind time and fix it.

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Installing Git: Welcome to My Personal Hell

Armed with newfound wisdom, I set out to install Git.

1. Find the official Git website (and spend way too long wondering which link to click).
2. Download and run the installer (mindlessly clicking "Next" multiple times).
3. Finish installation! (But, of course, nothing has actually started yet).

So far, so good. And then came the nightmare.

I tried running my first Git command:

bashコピーする編集するgit init

And what did I get?

"The term 'git' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program."

Wait, what?!

I stared at the screen. "You're AI, aren't you? Can't you figure this out on your own?"
Nope. No response. Git refused to acknowledge its own existence.

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Git Not Recognized? The Windows Trap

Panic. I installed Git—why won’t it work?!

A bit of research later, I discovered that Windows doesn’t automatically recognize Git unless you manually configure something called an environment variable.

…Great. That sounded very user-friendly.

I imagined something like a peaceful green meadow, but no—this was pure technical chaos.

Here's what I had to do:

1. Open Start Menu
2. Search for "Environment Variables"
3. Open "Edit the system environment variables"
4. Find the "Path" section and manually add Git’s install location

After all that, I could finally run Git commands properly.

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Creating a Repository! But, of Course, More Errors...

"At last! Git is working!" I thought.

bashコピーする編集するgit init

Boom—"Initialized empty Git repository."

Success!! I DID IT!!

But then…

bashコピーする編集するgit add .

Suddenly, warnings flooded my screen:

"LF will be replaced by CRLF."

…What the hell is LF? What’s CRLF?!

Turns out, Windows and Mac handle line breaks differently.
Did I know that? Absolutely not.

Thankfully, I found out that this was just a warning, so I calmly ignored it and moved on. (By calmly, I mean I closed my terminal and pretended nothing happened.)

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.gitignore: Another Round of Pain

Next, I needed to create a .gitignore file to exclude unnecessary files like node_modules/ and .env.

So, I confidently typed into the terminal:

bashコピーする編集するnode_modules/
.env

And Git responded:

"The term 'node_modules/' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet."

Huh?

Turns out, I was an idiot.

I had typed the ignore rules directly into the terminal instead of creating a .gitignore file.

Lesson learned: .gitignore is a FILE, not a command.

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Final Boss: Git Identity Crisis

With .gitignore fixed, I was ready for the last step:

bashコピーする編集するgit commit -m "Initial commit"

…And yet again, another error.

"Author identity unknown."

Git demanded to know who was making the commit. Fine. I set my name and email:

bashコピーする編集するgit config --global user.name "C.River"
git config --global user.email "ika.com0508@gmail.com"

Then, I tried again:

bashコピーする編集するgit commit -m "Initial commit"

Finally…

"[master (root-commit)] Initial commit"

IT WORKED.

I sat back, exhausted but victorious.

"I… I might be a genius after all!"

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