Welcome! If you're looking for a simple, clear explanation of Git and GitHub.
This guide is designed for our members and anyone interested in understanding the essential tools of modern project collaboration.
People often use these two terms interchangeably, but they are actually two different things that work perfectly together.
Git is a system that lives on your computer. Its entire purpose is Version Control.
Imagine you’re working on a document and constantly hitting "Save As Version 1," "Save As Version 2," etc. Git does this automatically, but much better.
- A Perfect History: Git tracks every change made to every file in your project. This means you can instantly go back to any previous version, making mistakes easy to fix and major crashes a non-issue.
- Proof of Work: It records exactly who made what change and when. This is the core of how teams keep track of their work.
GitHub is a website that acts as the central meeting place for all projects managed by Git. Think of it as our club’s central digital archive.
- Project Hosting: It's where we store the main, official copy of our project files e.g. our website (called a Repository or Repo).
- Collaboration Tools: GitHub provides the features we use to work together, like asking for feedback on changes and holding discussions before changes go live.
- Networking: It’s a huge platform for showing off your work and connecting with others who are building cool things.
| For Individual Projects | For Team Collaboration |
|---|---|
| It's Safe: You never have to worry about accidentally deleting a critical file. | Work Together, Apart: Multiple people can work on the same project files at the exact same time without interfering with each other. |
| Experiment Freely: You can create isolated spaces (Branches) to try out radical new ideas, knowing you won't break the main, working version. | Review and Approve: We use a process to review each other's work (called a Pull Request) to catch errors and maintain quality before a change is finalized. |
You don't need to learn a whole new language, just a few core concepts will help you follow along with any technical discussion:
| Term | What It Is in Plain English |
|---|---|
| Repository (Repo) | The project folder. It holds all the files and the entire history of those files. |
| Branch | An alternate, temporary version of the project. We use a branch to do our work without messing up the main version (often called main). |
| Commit | A "save point" or snapshot of your changes. Every time you save your work in Git, you write a short message explaining what you did. |
| Push | The act of sending your saved changes (Commits) from your computer up to the central repository on GitHub. |
| Pull | The act of grabbing the newest changes that other people have pushed, bringing them down to your computer. |
| Pull Request (PR) | This is how you submit your completed work. It’s a formal request for someone to look at your Branch and merge it into the main project. |
| Clone | Downloading a copy of the online project (the Repo) onto your own computer so you can work on it. |
How you use Git and GitHub depends on your role.
If your work is mainly in documentation (like this README.md) or simple file updates, you can often do everything right in your web browser.
- Find the File: Navigate to the file you want to change in the repository on GitHub.
- Edit: Click the Edit icon (it looks like a pencil).
- Commit: After making your changes, scroll to the bottom. Write a short, clear Commit Message (e.g., "Updated contact email in README") and click Commit changes.
- That's it! Your change is immediately saved and part of the project's history.
For more in-depth work (like coding), developers use the command line on their computer.
- Get the Project (Clone): Download a copy of the repo to your machine.
git clone [REPO_URL]
- Start Your Work (Branch): Create a new branch so your changes are isolated.
git checkout -b feat/my-new-feature
- Save Your Work (Commit): Once you've made file edits, you take a "snapshot" and save it.
git add . # Stagging all changes for the commit git commit -m "feat: my descriptive commit message"
- Share Your Work (Push): Upload your saved commits to GitHub.
git push -u origin my-new-feature
- Submit for Review (Pull Request): Go to the GitHub website and create a Pull Request to get feedback and merge your work into
main.
Ready to learn more? Check out these excellent, human-friendly tutorials:
- Git for Beginners: This is a fantastic, simple guide with all the basic commands: git - the simple guide
- GitHub’s Official Tutorial: The "Hello World" guide walks you through the website workflow: Hello World - GitHub Docs
- Video Walkthrough: This video offers a good visual introduction to the process: How To Use GitHub For Beginners - YouTube
We hope this helps clear up any confusion! Now you have a better understanding of how we collaborate and manage our projects. Feel free to ask a member if you have any questions!