Introduction to Git and GitHub

1 Welcome

Welcome to Git and GitHub! This course will teach you version control fundamentals and help you collaborate confidently using Git and GitHub.

2 Course Materials

Materials will be added here as we progress through the course.

https://gentle-git.njtierney.com

Prerequisites

• Basic computer literacy (creating files and folders)
• No prior experience with Git or version control required
• Helpful but not required: some experience with R, Python, or other programming

Learning outcomes

• Experiment freely without fear of breaking working code
• Collaborate with others without stepping on each other’s toes
• Share code publicly or privately with colleagues
• Track down when and where bugs were introduced
• Setting up Git and GitHub
• Push your code onto GitHub
• Understand how to use issues to track ideas or problems
• Use branches to manage features or changes
• Basic collaboration workflows (pull requests, merging, merge conflicts)

2.1 Schedule

2.1.1 Version Control Fundamentals

• The what and why of version control
  • Git vs OneDrive/Google Drive/Dropbox
• Concepts, and terminology
  • Repo, commits, branches,
• git vs github
• Installation and setup
  • Git Handshake
  • Setup with git/github
  • Connect to RStudio/Positron/VS code
  • Using usethis with git
  • The (many) ways of creating a git repository

2.1.2 Git Workflow

• Commit Early, commit often
• What makes a good commit
• .gitignore file
• How to write a useful commit message
• How to view commits / commit history
• How to look at differences between commits
• How to go back to another commit
• Public vs private repositories
• Tracking your work in github: Issues, Milestones, Labels, etc

2.1.3 GitHub and Branching

• Using branches
  • Make changes without breaking code
  • Link every branch to an issue
  • Creating, moving between branches
  • Merging branches and pull requests
  • git hygiene
• Practicing branching
  • Link branch and issue.
  • Resolve issue.
  • using usethis with

2.1.4 Collaborating with git

• Forking vs branching
• How to code review
• How to “import” someones changes onto your machine
• Merge conflicts
  • What, and why?
  • How to read merge conflicts
  • Resolving conflicts
• Simulating, and practicing conflict resolutions

2.1.5 Github Actions

• github pages
• using github workflows to automate work
• Linking github with Zenodo

2.1.6 git: some more technical aspects

• Linking git with an existing project
• Some basic troubleshooting of common errors
• Understanding git push and git pull
• Push an existing project to GitHub
• git bisect to find bugs