aiclass
~/aiclass/assignments/02-practice

./practice --assignment 01

Practice — Check Whether It Stuck

· ~20 min

contents · 6 sections
  1. Vocabulary
  2. Say it out loud first
  3. The loop, without consequences
  4. Your commit messages
  5. Where does a secret API key go?
  6. Make it harder than this page

Nothing here is handed in. This page exists for one question: can you answer the right-hand column of Assignment 01 without looking anything up?

Getting something working and understanding it are different days. This is where you find out which one you had — and it’s the warm-up for Tuesday’s blank paper quiz, where nothing on this page will be in front of you.

Vocabulary

Say it out loud first

Answer before you open each one. If your answer and the card’s answer are only roughly the same, that counts as not knowing it yet.

Git vs GitHub? reveal

Git is the program taking snapshots on your computer. GitHub hosts copies so others can collaborate. You can use Git with no GitHub at all.

Commit vs push? reveal

A commit saves locally. A push uploads to GitHub. You can commit ten times and push once.

Why branch instead of editing main? reveal

main should always work. A branch lets you break things without risking the live version — if it fails, delete it and nothing was ever at risk.

What's a pull request for, if you could just merge? reveal

Review, and the record of why a change happened, kept with the code.

Why isn't pushing the same as deploying? reveal

Pushing stores your code. Deploying serves it at a public URL.

The loop, without consequences

Run it until all seven light up. A hollow dot means the commit is only on your machine — that gap between hollow and filled is the whole commit-vs-push lesson.

~/my-portfolio (main)
Complete the loop 0 / 7

    Your commit messages

    Type a real one from your own repo, not a good one you thought of just now.

    Show me real ones
    stuffTells future-you nothing at all.
    final FINAL v2You have version control. That is what it is for.
    fixed bugWhich bug? Fixed how? There are a thousand bugs.
    Fix nav overlapping content on mobileWhat changed, in the imperative. Perfect.
    Add alt text to all project imagesSpecific, scoped, obvious in a list of 200.
    Compress hero image from 4MB to 180KBEven better — the numbers say why it mattered.

    Where does a secret API key go?

    Answer wrong and the page will show you the leak in view-source, which is exactly how a stranger would find it.

    Your portfolio site pulls in live weather. The API needs a secret key. Where does the key go?

    Make it harder than this page

    Make it quiz you properly

    Quiz me on: Git vs GitHub, the commit/push/pull/branch/merge/PR workflow, worktrees, deploying, Codespaces core-hours, installing an AI coding agent, and the three layers of the web stack.

    One at a time, wait for my answer. Mix definitions, “what happens if…”, and “here’s an error, what did I do wrong.” Don’t accept vague answers. Score me after 12 and tell me what to review.