Introduction to Git
Git is a software development tool that allows for the tracking of changes to files. It is the base code that GitHub itself runs on. As such, understanding it is important to understanding GitHub as a whole. This section of the ReadMe will serve as a basic tutorial for the Git command line.
Step 1: Installing Git
To start, you will need to download Git. If you have a Windows computer, click here. On macOS, open up OSX Terminal and type git --version, and you will be prompted to install it if it was not already.
Step 2: Using the terminal to create a repository.
Open up your terminal (Windows Command Prompt on Windows or OS X Terminal on Macintosh). First, type in the word "git", and hit enter, just to make sure it installed correctly. From there, it's time to create the folder to host your repository. Type mkdir folderName, where folderName is the name of your repository. This will create a folder (or, director) with that name. To enter that folder, type cd folderName.
Step 3: Creating the ReadMe
The ReadMe file in a repository contains information about the other files in the repository. It should say what's included in the repository, like is seen in the first section of this file. In order to create a ReadMe for your preexisting directory, like the one you're in now,, type echo "# folderName" >> README.md.
With the ReadMe created, it's time to access Git. Type git init to intiialize Git within this directory. Now, it's always good to know when changes have occued to a file. To do so, type git add README.md. You can do this for any file that you want the history of changes to be saved for.
Step 4: Creating a Commit
A "Commit", in the Git world, is more or less how you save a change to a repository. It is a statement that you are commiting to the changes that you have made. In order to do this for the first time in a directory, type git commit -m "first commit".
Step 5: Creating a GitHub repository
Now, you'll need to be sure you have a Github account. Once you do, go to the GitHub website and choose "Start a project".
From here, you will find yourself entering the basic information for your repository. The name, the owner, whether or not the project is publicly accessible, etc. Once all that is filmed out, click "Create repository".
Step 6: Exporting a respository to GitHub
It's finally time to upload this directory to GitHub. From the command terminal, type git remote add origin https://github.com/yourUsername/folderName.git. This code adds a remote named Origin to the address listed in the code. Origin is just a placehoder name, so if you want to use another name you can.
Selected Git Applications
There are a number of applications that can be used to access the Git command line. A few suggested applications are listed below:
GitHub Desktop
GitHub desktop is a first party extension of GitHub that allows users to access their repositories directly on their PC. It's the first application suggested for use when a project is being hosted on GitHub. Most regular Git and GitHub operations are available directly through this app, and changes can be very easily tracked through this system. Generally, GitHub Desktop should be used unless another app has something specific that your project needs. It is available for both Windows and MacOS.
Sourcetree
Sourcetree is a simplified Git platform that seeks to simplify the project of hosting a project with Git. It allows for easy visualization of code, as well as a simplified project structure. Despite the simplified design, however, it is also more advanced than GitHub Desktop, providing multitudes of new features, including an increased focus on submodules/subtrees, large file support, and an interactive update to the regular rebase tool. It's easy for beginners to learn, and introduces plenty of new tools, but still loses some functionality from other apps, such as the command line. It is also completely free, with no upgraded version with more features, like other, similar products. Sourcetree is available for both Windows and MacOS.
GitKraken
GitKraken is among the more feature-rich Git apps. It comes with a built-in code editor, numerous collaborative features, and supports multiple different Version Control Systems, including GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket. Its pro version is also cheaper than GitHub's, and it offers a free pro upgrade for students and educators. GitKraken is available on both Windows and MacOS.