GitHub is a popular platform that allows developers to host and collaborate on their code projects using Git, an open-source version control system. In this blog post, we will explain what GitHub is, how it works, and why you should use it.
Git vs GitHub
Git is a tool that helps you track and manage changes to your code over time. It lets you create different versions of your code (called branches), work on them independently, and merge them back together when they are ready. Git also keeps a history of all the changes you make, so you can easily undo or revert any mistakes.
GitHub is a service that hosts your Git repositories online, and adds many features to make collaboration easier. With GitHub, you can:
- Create an account and profile to showcase your projects and skills
- Fork (copy) other people’s repositories and contribute to them by making pull requests
- Review, comment, and approve other people’s code changes
- Manage issues and feature requests for your projects
- Create wikis and documentation for your projects
- Integrate with other tools and services for testing, deployment, etc.
How to use GitHub
To use GitHub, you need to create an account on GitHub.com. You can choose between a free plan or a paid plan depending on your needs. The free plan lets you create unlimited public repositories (visible to anyone) and up to three private repositories (visible only to you and collaborators). The paid plans offer more private repositories and advanced features.
Once you have an account, you can create or fork repositories on GitHub.com using the web interface or the command line. You can also clone (download) repositories from GitHub.com to your local computer using Git commands or a graphical client.
To work on your code locally, you need to install Git on your computer and configure it with your name and email address. You can then use Git commands or a graphical client to make changes, commit them (save them with a message), push them (upload them) to GitHub.com, or pull them (download them) from GitHub.com.
To collaborate with others on GitHub.com, you need to follow some common workflows:
- Forking: If you want to contribute to someone else’s project, you can fork their repository (make a copy of it under your account) and make changes on your fork. Then you can create a pull request (a request to merge your changes) from your fork to the original repository.
- Branching: If you want to work on different features or bug fixes for your own project, you can create branches (separate versions of your code) from the main branch (usually called master or main). Then you can make changes on each branch without affecting the others. When a branch is ready, you can merge it back into the main branch using a pull request.
- Collaborating: If you want to work with other people on the same project, you can add them as collaborators (people who have access) to your repository. Then they can clone your repository, create branches, make changes, push them back to your repository, or create pull requests for review.
Why use GitHub
GitHub is one of the most popular platforms for hosting and collaborating on code projects. It has over 65 million users and hosts over 200 million repositories as of 2021. Some of the benefits of using GitHub are:
- It makes it easy to share your code with others and get feedback
- It helps you learn from other developers by seeing their code and how they solve problems
- It allows you to contribute to open-source projects that interest you or benefit society
- It showcases your skills and portfolio to potential employers or clients
- It integrates with many other tools and services that enhance your development workflow
Conclusion
GitHub is a platform that allows developers to host and collaborate on their code projects using Git. It offers many features that make version control and collaboration easier. To use GitHub effectively requires some knowledge of Git commands but also provides graphical interfaces for convenience.
