lesson_3_reflections.txt

When would you want to use a remote repository rather than keeping all your
work local?

It is a good idea to use a remote repository for multiple reasons. Technology
is not perfect, and your hard drive may fail. If that happens, you will lose all
of your hard work coding a new program. When the file is stored in a remote
repository, you have the ability to restore it from another machine if yours
fails. Additionally, if you want to work on the project with others, then you
both have the potential to work on features independently and then merge them
together. This is nice if you and your co-developers are in different geographic
locations.

Why might you want to always pull changes manually rather than having Git
automatically stay up-to-date with your remote repository?

You want to have control of what code is stored on your local machine when
working on a project. If pulls automatically happened then code from another
developer could be brought down to your local machine and mess up what you
are working on.

Describe the differences between forks, clones, and branches. When would you use
one instead of another?

Forks are very similar to branches but with a few added features. It exists in
a remote repository like github. This means you have more control over who can
fork you repo or who can issue a request to push data back. Clones are just a
copy of a code base that can be done computer to computer or with a service like
git. Branches are a way to keep separate features on your local machine and
check them back in once the feature is complete.

What is the benefit of having a copy of the last known state of the remote
stored locally?

You are able to stay up-to-date for any new changes, features or improvements
being added. It is easy to commit/push your changes to a remote repository if
your local copy has changes that are more up to date.