How to Use Git and GitHub for Version Control - Beginner's Guide

How to Use Git and GitHub for Version Control: A Beginner's Guide

No matter if you're a sole developer working on a simple mobile application, or part of a larger team working on a complex project, a version control system is an indispensable tool in a modern software development environment. Git and GitHub, renowned tools for Version Control, are set standards for open-source projects, and even for many company projects where the source code is not public.

This article provides a holistic guide on Git and GitHub for beginners, aimed at imparting a solid understanding of how to use these tools for your version control needs.

Introduction to Git

Git is a distributed version control system developed by Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux operating system. It allows you to track changes to your source code, making it easier to collaborate with others and navigate through different versions of your files.

In Git, every user has their own local repository, complete with a complete history of commits. This decentralization eliminates reliance on a central server for the availability and speed, which greatly enhances performance as well as security.

Introduction to GitHub

On the other hand, GitHub is an online service that hosts Git repositories. In addition to the version control functionality of Git, GitHub also adds its own features, such as a web-based interface, pull requests, code review tools, project management tools, visualization tools, and a marketplace for various developer applications.

Getting Started with Git

The first step in using Git is to download it and install it on your computer. After installing Git, you can enter Git commands directly from the terminal if you're using Linux or MacOS, or from the Git Bash program if you're using Windows.

Basic Git Commands

Here are some basic Git commands that you'll frequently be using:

- git init: Initialise a new Git repository.

- git add: Track changes to a specific file.

- git commit -m "commit message": Save your changes to the local repository.

- git status: Show the status of changes in the repository.

- git push: Push your changes to the remote repository.

- git pull: Fetch and merge changes from the remote repository.

Getting Started with GitHub

To start using GitHub, you need to create a GitHub account. Once you have an account, you can create new repositories, or "repos", to store and manage your code.

After setting up your repo on GitHub, you can clone it to your local machine using the git clone command. Cloning a repo downloads all the code from the repo onto your machine and allows you to work on it locally.

Connecting Git to GitHub

Once you have Git and GitHub set up, you can connect the two by adding your GitHub account to Git. This can be done using the git config --global command. This will tell Git who you are and which repo to associate your commits with.

Git and GitHub Workflow

The general Git and GitHub workflow follow these steps:

1. Create or clone a repo

2. Make changes to the code

3. Commit changes to the local repo

4. Push changes to the remote GitHub repo

5. Create a pull request on GitHub

6. Review and merge changes on GitHub

This process allows for collaborative work, code review, and version control, ensuring that no changes get lost or overwrite other changes.

Conclusion

Git and GitHub are powerful tools for version control, collaboration, and code management. Their ubiquitous use in software development makes understanding and being comfortable in using them a necessary aspect of modern software development.

Learning Git and GitHub might seem intimidating at first, but with regular use and practice, it will soon become second nature. So, do not hesitate and start discovering their power!