Git and Software Engineering Jeopardy

Git commands, branching, code review, testing, and CI/CD as a team game for engineers. Copy this free board and let the team buzz in from their phones.

6 categories · 30 clues · Final Jeopardy · everyone buzzes in from their phone

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Every clue on this board

This page is public, so anyone can read the answers — copy the board and swap a few clues before game day.

Git Commands

$200
This command makes a local copy of a remote repository.
What is git clone?
$400
This command stages changes so they are included in the next commit.
What is git add?
$600
This command shows which files are modified, staged or untracked.
What is git status?
$800
This command shelves uncommitted changes so you can switch tasks and come back to them.
What is git stash?
$1,000
This command uses a binary search through history to find the commit that introduced a bug.
What is git bisect?

Branching and Merging

$200
Replacing master, this is the default name for the first branch in many new repositories.
What is main?
$400
When two branches change the same lines, Git stops and asks you to resolve one of these.
What is a merge conflict?
$600
This command replays your commits on top of another branch, producing a straight-line history.
What is git rebase?
$800
When the target branch hasn't moved on, Git can simply advance its pointer in this kind of merge.
What is a fast-forward merge?
$1,000
This command applies the changes from one specific commit onto the current branch.
What is git cherry-pick?

Code Review

$200
On GitHub, you ask for review and merging of a branch by opening one of these.
What is a pull request?
$400
GitLab calls its version of a pull request this.
What is a merge request?
$600
A reviewer signals approval with this four-letter shorthand for looking fine.
What is LGTM?
$800
In this practice, two programmers share one workstation and review code as it is written.
What is pair programming?
$1,000
This GitHub file automatically requests reviewers based on the paths a change touches.
What is CODEOWNERS?

Testing

$200
These tests check a single function or class in isolation.
What are unit tests?
$400
In this practice, you write a failing test first, then just enough code to pass it, then refactor.
What is test-driven development?
$600
This stand-in object replaces a real dependency in a test and records how it was called.
What is a mock?
$800
This metric reports the share of code lines or branches executed by the test suite.
What is code coverage?
$1,000
Tests that pass and fail at random without any code change are described with this word.
What are flaky tests?

CI and CD

$200
In CI/CD, CI stands for this.
What is continuous integration?
$400
This GitHub service runs CI/CD pipelines defined in YAML workflow files.
What is GitHub Actions?
$600
This open-source automation server was forked from Hudson in 2011.
What is Jenkins?
$800
Named for a bird once taken into coal mines, this release sends a new version to a small share of users first.
What is a canary release?
$1,000
This strategy runs two identical production environments and switches traffic from one to the other to deploy.
What is blue-green deployment?

Computing History

$200
This Finnish-American engineer created the Linux kernel in 1991.
Who is Linus Torvalds?
$400
In 1947 a moth taped into the Harvard Mark II logbook was recorded as the first actual case of this being found.
What is a bug?
$600
Often called the first computer programmer, she wrote notes on Babbage's Analytical Engine in 1843.
Who is Ada Lovelace?
$800
Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie began this operating system at Bell Labs in 1969.
What is Unix?
$1,000
Margaret Hamilton led the team that wrote the onboard flight software for this NASA program.
What is Apollo?

Final Jeopardy — Version Control History

Before Git was created in 2005, Linux kernel development relied on this proprietary version control system, whose free license was withdrawn that year.

What is BitKeeper?

How to run this board

This board covers the practices that hold a software team together: Git commands and branching, merges and conflicts, code review etiquette, testing, continuous integration and deployment, and a column of computing history for the people who know where the word bug came from.

It works well for onboarding new engineers or as a low-key game at a team offsite. Teams that mix junior and senior developers tend to have the best arguments about merge versus rebase.

A fun house rule: for any Git clue, the answering team can earn a bonus by naming the exact command they would type. Edit the CI/CD column to reflect your own pipeline, branch naming, and review rules.

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