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This is a valid complaint. You simply don't design UI that allows to delete a large number of files with a press of a single button. That he didn't have backups is irrelevant. Even accidentally deleting fresh changes is quite damaging. VS Code doesn't say anything about Git, or what Git is. You can't expect anyone who downloads MS software to be a Git expert.
See joaomoreno's comment on that page.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks, that answer actually adds some very important context!
Yeah, I actually got this dialog once and immediately clicked on 'cancel' to make sure I understood what the command did. Personally I think this little detail changes the whole situation. And that's not even taking into account the idiocy of not having a backup and not incrementally adding the project to some form of version control. Hell, even for all but the simplest TOY project I create a git repository and push…
> Are you sure you wish to discard ALL changes? This is IRREVERSIBLE!
Yes, very scary, like many warnings that some systems teach us to ignore.
It doesn't say what "changes" will be discarded. Are those the changes it made since the IDE was installed? Did the IDE make changes? Some kind of project files or directories? Some kind of setup? Is a novice supposed to know this?
Even on the home-grown IDE I use at work, it saves backups in a trash area when you delete files in case you accidentally delete something you don't intend to. (Actually, I got very concerned once thinking I had deleted something I hadn't committed yet... as I recall it was a false alarm, but I was pleased that my concern was misplaced.)
And given that a lot of other people have experienced this, I'd say there is evidence that this is a UX (User eXperience) problem, not necessarily a PEBCAK (Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard):
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/expression/en-US/b3...
I never trust anything but the commandline when it comes to git. Then I know full and well what I'm doing regardless of the editor. When there are too many icons and buttons to click I don't like to have to remember what they all mean, or how well they map to the underlying core git concepts.
The commandline offers just as much opportunity to screw up your repository as a GUI does, if not more.
> git-clean - Remove untracked files from the working tree
https://git-scm.com/docs/git-clean
Now I would call that description very precise and readable.
Here's the GUI's warning:
> Are you sure you wish to discard ALL changes? This is IRREVERSIBLE!
What changes? He didn't change anything. Did the GUI change something? Maybe it did. Maybe nothing will happen.
Foolish not to back-up before experimenting? Sure. But GUI's imply friendliness to the inexperienced. This seems like bad UX.
Well, that's not very positive... but I can relate. VS Code lost some work of mine on the first day I tried it, so I decided not to continue using it. It wasn't super important so I wasn't angry, but it was a good chunk of code I had just spent probably 45 minutes writing and debugging. You could argue it was my fault because I didn't stage and commit the new file, but there's no reason to close a buffer just because…