hey how to use github

[astraietm]

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Question

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hey i am new to github help me out....how this works

[lucaasporto]

GitHub is basically a social network and a "Google Drive" tailored for storing and organizing computer code. Imagine you are writing a book or a long school assignment: instead of saving files like "project_v1", "project_final", and "project_final_for_real_this_time", GitHub saves all your progress in one place, keeping a complete history of every change made over time. This space where your project is stored inside GitHub is called a repository (or simply a "repo").

To get started with the first steps as simply as possible, you first create a free account on the GitHub website and click the button to create a "New Repository", giving your project a name. The easiest way for beginners to get started without complications is by using the GitHub web page itself: you can click the "Upload files" option to upload folders and documents directly from your computer. A good practice is to create a file called README.md, which acts as the "cover" of your project, where you type a simple text explaining what the code does and how to use it.

As you make changes to your files and upload them to the platform, GitHub generates what we call a "commit", which is essentially a "restore point" with an explanatory message of what you changed. If you want to test new ideas without messing up the main working code, you can create a "branch" (which is like a branch or parallel copy of the project). If the idea works out, you create a "Pull Request" to merge that copy back into the main code. With these basic steps — creating a repository, uploading files, and describing the project in the README —, you can already build your first online portfolio and share the link with anyone.

Additionally, if you want to see how all of this works step-by-step on the screen, you can find several videos on YouTube explaining it in detail. A great starting point is the tutorial How To Use GitHub For Beginners. Good luck on your journey!

[lucaasporto]

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