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Suhail Kakar
Suhail Kakar

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An Ultimate Guide to Git and Github

#github #javascript #git #programming

As a developer, we all know a little about Git and GitHub but there are some developers who still have doubt and question about Git and GitHub. Therefore in this article, I am going to break everything down regarding Git and GitHub, so that you can understand it clearly.

Table of contents

Introduction

Git is a source code management technology used by DevOps. It is a free and open-source version control system that is used to efficiently manage small to extremely big projects.

Git is a version control system. Version control is a file manager that maintains track of changes to your projects over time and keeps a complete history of whatever you're working on. It allows many developers around the globe to work together on the same project at the same time

GitHub is a site that hosts Git repositories, but it also has a lot of its own features. It is a web-based graphical interface for Git, which is a command-line application. Each project has access control and numerous collaborative capabilities, such as wikis and rudimentary task management tools.

It is the home of 56 million ( September 2020 ) developers around the globe which is currently owned by Microsoft

Installation

Every operating system has its own steps to install Git, In this article, I will cover Linux, Windows, and Mac ( Which are the most popular ones )

Linux

If you are a Linux user ( like me ), you will probably know that the Linux family is very big and It has many distros such as Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch and etc.
However, in this article, I will cover Debian ( Ubuntu ) and Fedora

Debian / Ubuntu (apt-get)

  • From your shell, install Git using apt-get: 
sudo apt-get install git
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  • Verify the installation was successful by typing git --version: 
git --version
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  • Configure your Git username and email using the following commands. These details will be associated with any commits that you create. 
git config --global user.name "Suhail Kakar"
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git config --global user.email "suhail.zahed@gmail.com
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Fedora (dnf/yum)

  • From your shell, you can install Git using dnf or yum 
sudo dnf install git
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or

sudo yum install git
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  • Verify the installation was successful by typing git --version: 
git --version
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  • Configure your Git username and email using the following commands. These details will be associated with any commits that you create. 
git config --global user.name "Suhail Kakar"
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git config --global user.email "suhail.zahed@gmail.com
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Windows

  • Download the latest Git for Windows setup
  • You should see the Git Setup wizard screen after you've successfully run the installer. Complete the installation by following the Next and Finish prompts. For most people, the default parameters are adequate.
  • Open a Command Prompt or Git Bash and run the below command to configure your Git username and email. These details will be associated with any commits that you create. 
git config --global user.name "Suhail Kakar"
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git config --global user.email "suhail.zahed@gmail.com
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Mac

Or, install Homebrew and run the following to install an up to date version of Git on your Mac:

brew install git
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  • Open a terminal and verify the installation was successful by typing the below command. 
git --version
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  • Configure your Git username and email using the following commands. These details will be associated with any commits that you create. 
git config --global user.name "Suhail Kakar"
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git config --global user.email "suhail.zahed@gmail.com
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Basic GitHub terms

  1. Fork: Fork is a copy of another user's repository that lives on your personal Github account. The major reason for this is to adapt other people's repositories to meet your needs.
  2. Main: When you create a new repository, it comes with a default development branch.
  3. Readme: It is a text file that contains information about other files in a repository. It is usually a basic plain text file called Read Me that serves as documentation.
  4. Repository: A Repository is a place where tour work will be stored in a directory or storage space. This is sometimes abbreviated as "repo" by GitHub users.
  5. License: If you want your repository to be genuinely open source, you'll need to license it so that others can use, modify, and distribute it.
  6. Pull request: It allows you to announce a change made by you in the branch. It is a way for a developer to let the rest of the team know when they've finished a feature.

Basic Git Command

  1. git init: The git init command creates a new Git repository. Executing this command creates a .git subdirectory in the current working directory, which contains all of the necessary Git metadata for the new repository.
  2. git clone: The git clone command is used to create a copy of a specific repository or branch within a repository.
  3. git branch <branch-name>: This git command is used to create a new branch for a specific repository.
  4. git checkout <branch-name>: The git checkout command lets you navigate between the branches created by the git branch.
  5. git add: It is the first command in a chain of operations that directs Git to "save" a snapshot of the current project state, into the commit history. It is used to tracks your file and changes in Git
  6. git commit: The git commit command takes a snapshot of the current state of the project's changes.
  7. git push : This command is used to upload git commits to a remote repository like Github

The power of Open Source is the power of the people. The people rule. ~ Philippe Kahn

Demonstration

  • To create a new folder, you need to use the below command. 
mkdir demo-folder
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  • To navigate to your newly created folder, use the below command. 
cd demo-folder
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  • To create a new file, you need to the below command. 
touch index.js
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  • Use the below command to see untracked changes in the index.js file. 
git status
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  • To add index.js, use the command below. 
git add index.js
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  • To commit your changes use the below command 
git commit -m "added index.js file"
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  • To add your remote origin link, use the command below 
git remote add origin main https://github.com/suhailkakar/demo
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  • To push your code to GitHub, you can use the below command 
git push -u origin
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GitHub special repository

GitHub offers a special repository by your username, which should contain a readme.md and it will show in your GitHub profile, just like mine

screely-1630052122124.png

If you want a similar look, you can fork my repository here

Conclusion ⌛

I hope you found this article helpful. If you need any help please let me know in the comment section.

Let's connect on Twitter and LinkedIn

👋 Thanks for reading, See you next time

Top comments (16)

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darkwiiplayer profile image
𒎏Wii 🏳️‍⚧️ • • Edited

2. Main: When you create a new repository, it comes with a default development branch.

Last time I checked, the default branch was still called master. Calling it main instead is really just a weird thing that github does by default.

git commit -m "added index.js file"

Please don't... That's such a bad habit and sooo many newcomers are doing it because all the tutorials say so. Use git commit and write a proper commit message.

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suhailkakar profile image
Suhail Kakar •

Yes, I agree but since I was talking about GitHub, I mentioned mainas default branch

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darkwiiplayer profile image
𒎏Wii 🏳️‍⚧️ •

Yes, but your title says "Git and Github" so it seems worthwhile to point out that there's a difference and which uses what :D

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suhailkakar profile image
Suhail Kakar •

Yes, it is , but as you see the heading it is Basic GitHub terms

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darkwiiplayer profile image
𒎏Wii 🏳️‍⚧️ •

Without mentioning the git default, it's a bit misleading though. It makes sense if you already know git anyway, but that's not who this post seems to be for though.

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billraymond profile image
Bill Raymond •

You may want to update your installation and documentation setup material. As @darkwiiplayer mentions, Git defaults to master. Since GitHub, GitLab, Atlasssian, and most new training material refers to main, it would be a good idea to use the same standard.

Could you add this to inform your readers?

git config --global init.defaultBranch main

Great article!

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darkwiiplayer profile image
𒎏Wii 🏳️‍⚧️ •

More than just point out how to change the config, I think it's important to explain that both standards exist and where they're used. There's still lots of master branches on github and people have occasionally used main long before any big platform made the switch. I'm sure there's at least one repo somewhere out there where the default branch is called potatoes.

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suhailkakar profile image
Suhail Kakar •

Sure Bill, Thanks

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billraymond profile image
Bill Raymond •

Thanks!

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labib profile image
Asif •

Hey , do learning git commands worth in 2021 ? Whether you can use the git GUI ?

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billraymond profile image
Bill Raymond •

I mostly use the UI as a single developer with the occasional collaborators, but the command line is very powerful, allowing you to perform more granular and feature-rich operations. It’s also useful if you spend a lot of time in a terminal window anyway.

All that said most of the basics, like cloning, branching, committing, etc are quite easy to learn with a UI. Actually, I learned the UI first, then when I wanted to do more advanced things, the GIT documentation made a lot more sense :)

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kayaks2fish profile image
kayaks2fish •

It would be helpful if you understand how to use git commands.

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darkwiiplayer profile image
𒎏Wii 🏳️‍⚧️ •

Most of the cooler stuff git can do isn't really available from any GUI tools

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jdeepd profile image
JDeep •

Learning the basic commands is never a harm.

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suhailkakar profile image
Suhail Kakar •

I would be better, if you learn git commands, and as @darkwiiplayer mentioned, most of the git features aren't available is GUIs

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leandroninja profile image
Leandro Oliveira Moraes •

Show.

View full discussion (16 comments)

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