What is GitHub & git?
Three core functions of GitHub & git
- A common area to store a project’s files
- A way to track changes
- A way for multiple people to work on a project in parallel
Creating an account: https://github.com/
Download the desktop app: https://desktop.github.com/
- either terminal or the desktop git shell
- a GitHub account
- a text editor
If you are not familiar with using the terminal, I recommend keeping this cheat sheet on hand and perhaps going though a basic terminal tutorial. Simply search Google or YouTube for "terminal tutorial" plus your operating system. Both the git shell and mac OS use linux based commands
All of these commands do not provide any functionality; they only provide useful information, so feel free to use these throughout the labs.
git help - show a list of commands for git and what they do
git help command - detailed explanation of what the command does and what the options do
git config -l - list out the configuration settings for git
git status - shows status of current working tree (very useful)
git branch - list out the branches and shows which is the current working branch
The following labs will walk though the basic process of creating a repository, adding work to the repository, and some basic management for the repository. The labs need to be completed in order as they build upon each other.
The labs are done via command line even though GitHub provides a way for actions to be done through a visual interface. Despite that, I recommend becoming familiar with the git command line tools. It may be very challenging and intimidating at first, but once you get use to it, it will be very useful and saves a lot time.
Lab 1: Creating a repository and making the first commit
Lab 2: Understanding remote and local work
Lab 3: Creating branches and merging
Almost anything you do with git/GitHub can be undone, so don’t worry if you mess up. (although figuring out how to undo it can be tricky sometimes)
If you can’t remember how to do a certain action or don’t know how, just search for it on Google. The top links are usually answers to your question from GitHub Docs or answers on StackOverflow
If you experience issues with the labs feel free to post the issues in the issues section of this repository on GitHub, and I will try to help you when I get some time.