GitHub is a web-based Git repository hosting service, which offers all of the distributed revision control and source code management (SCM) functionality of Git as well as adding its own features.

How to setup Git and GitHub

Download and install the latest version of GitHub

Desktop. This will automatically install Git and keep it up-to-date for you.

https://help.github.com/articles/set-up-git/

Introduce yourself to Git 

• On your computer, open the Git Shell application.  
• Enter these lines (with appropriate changes):  git config –global user. name “John Smith”  git config –global user.email [email protected]  
• You only need to do this once 
•  If you want to use a different name/email address for a particular project, 
• you can change it for just that project cd to the project directory Use the above commands, but leave out the –global.

The repository  

Your top-level working directory contains everything about your project  The working directory probably contains many subdirectories—source code, binaries, documentation, data files, etc.  

• One of these subdirectories, named .git, is your repository  At any time, you can take a “snapshot” of everything (or selected things) in your project directory and put it in your repository.
•  This “snapshot” is called a commit object  
• The commit object contains (1) a set of files, (2) references to the “parents” of the commit object, and (3) a unique “SHA1” name 
•  Commit objects do not require huge amounts of memory  You can work as much as you like in your working directory, but the repository isn’t updated until you commit something.

init and the .git repository

• When you said git init in your project directory, or when you cloned an existing project, 
• you created a repository The repository is a subdirectory named .git containing various files The dot indicates a “hidden” directory
•  You do not work directly with the contents of that directory; various git commands do that for you.

Making commits 

• You do your work in your project directory, as usual,
•  If you create new files and/or folders, they are not tracked by Git unless you ask it to do so  git add newFile1 newFolder1 newFolder2 newFile2  
• Committing makes a “snapshot” of everything being tracked into your repository  A message telling what you have done is required git commit –m “Uncrevulated the conundrum bar”  git commit  This version opens an editor for you the enter the message  To finish, save and quit the editor.
•   Format of the commit message  One line containing the complete summary  If more than one line, the second line must be blank.

Commits and graphs 

• A commit is when you tell git that a change (or addition) you have made is ready to be included in the project  
• When you commit your change to git, it creates a commit object 
•  A commit object represents the complete state of the project, including all the files in the project  The very first commit object has no “parents”  
• Usually, you take some commit object, make some changes, and create a new commit object; the original commit object is the parent of the new commit object  
• Hence, most commit objects have a single parent  You can also merge two commit objects to form a new one  
• The new commit object has two parents  Hence commit objects form a directed graph  Git is all about using and manipulating this graph 

Commit messages 

•  In git, “Commits are cheap.” Do them often.  
• When you commit, you must provide a one-line message stating what you have done Terrible message: 
• “Fixed a bunch of things” Better message: 
• “Corrected the calculation of median scores”  
• Commit messages can be very helpful,
•  to yourself as well as to your team members  You can’t say much in one line, so commit often

Typical workflow

• git status 
• See what Git thinks is going on Use this frequently!
•   Work on your files 
•  git add your edit files  git commit –m “What I did”

Keeping it simple  If you:  Make sure you are current with the central repository  Make some improvements to your code  Update the central repository before anyone else does  Then you don’t have to worry about resolving conflicts or working with multiple branches  All the complexity in git comes from dealing with these  Therefore:  Make sure you are up-to-date before starting to work  Commit and update the central repository frequently  If you need help: https://help.github.com/

Introduce yourself to GitHub  Register on GitHub 

https://github.com/

 Authenticating to GitHub Desktop 

https://help.github.com/desktop/guides/gettingstarted/authenticating-to-github/

Configuring Git for GitHub Desktop https://help.github.com/desktop/guides/gettingstarted/configuring-git-for-github-desktop/

Create or add a repository to GitHub  Create a new repository on GitHub 

https://help.github.com/articles/create-a-repo/

 From GitHub Desktop, then Publish to GitHub

https://help.github.com/desktop/guides/contributing/adding-arepository-from-your-local-computer-to-github-desktop/

Remember to Publish, otherwise, your repository would not appear on the GitHub website. 

Commit your changes on GitHub  From GitHub Website https://help.github.com/articles/create-a-repo/

  From GitHub Desktop https://help.github.com/desktop/guides/contributing/committingand-reviewing-changes-to-your-project/ 

Creating a branch for your work  A branch is a parallel version of the main line of development in the repository, or the default branch (usually master). Use branches to  Develop features  Fix bugs  Safely experiment with new ideas  From the GitHub Website 

https://help.github.com/articles/creating-and-deleting-branches-within-your-repository/

 From the GitHub Desktop  

https://help.github.com/desktop/guides/contributing/creating-a-branch-for-your-work/