GitHub guide – Why you should use it and how to use it
GitHub, a web-based platform, provides a collaborative environment for real-time teamwork. It empowers teams to collaborate seamlessly in coding, web development, and content management. In this brief overview, we’ll introduce you to GitHub, explore its user base, and understand its widespread popularity.
As of October 2020, GitHub stands out as the most prominent hub for source code hosting. The platform witnessed the creation of over 60 million new repositories in 2020 alone, with a remarkable 56 million developers actively participating.
GitHub plays a pivotal role during various stages of development, whether it’s for coding, content management, research, or web development. Its appeal lies in its ability to effortlessly monitor changes and facilitate the navigation of revisions.
This article aims to guide you through GitHub, highlighting its advantages, use cases, and where you’re likely to encounter it, as well as how to effectively utilize its features.
What is Git?
Git stands as a version control system, widely embraced by programmers globally, for monitoring changes in computer files. Its reputation as an indispensable tool in the programmer’s arsenal is well-deserved. Regardless of project size, Git is adept at managing them all.
Git plays a crucial role in orchestrating the collaborative efforts of project teams while maintaining a comprehensive record of their progress over time. Its utility extends beyond the realm of technical experts, providing valuable assistance to both programmers and non-technical users in managing their project files. Git’s elegant solution enables multiple users to collaborate harmoniously without disrupting each other’s contributions.
With this introduction to Git, you’ve laid the groundwork for a deeper understanding of GitHub
What is GitHub?
GitHub serves as a hosting service for Git repositories and offers an accessible web-based interface. It stands as the world’s largest community of developers and coders. By placing your code or project on GitHub, you significantly expand its visibility and reach. Programmers can explore source codes in various programming languages and utilize Git’s command-line interface to make and track changes effectively.
GitHub enables you to generate, save, modify, blend, and cooperate on documents or code. Within a team, any member can open the GitHub repository (think of it as a file folder), make edits, and instantly view the latest version. Often referred to as a “social coding platform,” GitHub facilitates users in requesting changes from each other and engaging in internal discussions throughout the development process. It promotes coordination, sharing, and collaborative coding in settings that are dispersed and may not occur in real time.
Who uses GitHub?
Developers leverage GitHub as a collaborative platform for working collectively on a single project, reaping the advantages of version control. This pivotal feature aids in minimizing redundant efforts. Moreover, GitHub provides developers the freedom to explore new ideas and innovations. In the event that these alterations do not yield favorable results, a swift and seamless reversion to the previous version is easily achievable.
Beyond developers, GitHub finds utility among various other user groups, including:
- Scientific Researchers: Scientists and researchers harness the power of GitHub for sharing and collaborating on research projects, enhancing accessibility to their findings.
- Website Content Creators: Content creators for websites utilize GitHub to streamline content management, ensuring updates are efficient and well-documented.
- Computer Programmers: Programmers from diverse fields embrace GitHub as a central hub for code collaboration, enabling efficient coding practices.
- Software Engineers: Software engineers rely on GitHub’s features to collaborate on large-scale software development, ensuring smooth coordination across teams.
- Students: Students also benefit from GitHub as a valuable learning platform, gaining practical experience in collaborative coding and version control practices.
Why is version control important?
Version control is a crucial aspect of collaboration as it brings transparency and repeatability into the picture. When you can visibly trace every change made, it empowers your entire team to explore new ideas and approaches with confidence, knowing you can always return to the original setup if needed.
Known as version control, source control, or revision control, this practice provides solid support for managing code throughout the development process. It allows your team to work on code simultaneously, addressing potential issues, all while ensuring there’s a single reference point keeping track of these experiments.
Developers can easily handle conflicting code by having clear insights into the various iterations. The best part? No one can cause irreparable harm to a project in progress because you can always refer back to previous code versions and roll back changes if necessary.
What makes GitHub so popular?
GitHub asserts its adoption by over 4 million organizations and 100 million+ developers. Continue reading to discover the attributes that underpin its widespread acclaim.
1. Easy Project Management
GitHub is a place where project managers and developers come together to coordinate, track, and update their work so that projects are transparent and stay on schedule.
2. Increased Safety With Packages
Packages can be published privately, within the team, or publicly to the open-source community. The packages can be used or reused by downloading them from GitHub.
3. Effective Team Management
GitHub helps all the team members stay on the same page and organized. Moderation tools like Issue and Pull Request Locking help the team to focus on the code.
4. Improved Code Writing
Pull requests help organizations to review, develop, and propose new code. Team members can discuss any implementations and proposals through these before changing the source code.
5. Increased Code Safety
GitHub uses dedicated tools to identify and analyze vulnerabilities to the code that other tools tend to miss. Development teams everywhere work together to secure the software supply chain, from start to finish.
6. Easy Code Hosting
All the code and documentation are in one place. There are millions of repositories on GitHub, and each repository has its own tools to help you host and release code.
How to get started with GitHub
Getting started with GitHub is a breeze. To kick things off, visit the GitHub website and sign up for an account. If you intend to use your local computer, consider installing Git. Then, head to your terminal and introduce yourself to Git by setting up your username for each repository.
Execute this command: git config –global user.name “<your_name_here>”
Make sure to replace “<your_name_here>” with your actual name. You can choose any name you prefer.
Following that, share your email address with Git. It should match the email you used when registering on GitHub.
git config –global user.email “<[email protected]>”
Now, you’re all set to dive into the world of Git!
How to use GitHub as a portfolio
Using GitHub for your e-portfolio demonstrates a technological savvy, which can help you stand out in this digital world.
Follow these steps to use GitHub for your portfolio:
- Sign up for a free GitHub account.
- Create your content first in a separate platform (e.g., Google Docs or Word) to ensure you have a master copy.
- Add your work to a GitHub project board by creating a new repository. Keep in mind that GitHub repositories are publicly visible by default. You may want to set it to private if it’s a work in progress.
- Share with others and ask for input.
- Edit and revise in the collaborative interface.
- Publish your work to a GitHub page open to the public.
- Share your final portfolio with your network of potential employers. You could also put it on your resume and LinkedIn profile.
Alternatives to GitHub
GitHub may be the largest code host out there, but it isn’t the only option available. You might also try:
- Bitbucket
- Google Cloud Source Repositories
- Phabricator
- GitLab
- Gogs
- Gitea
- SourceForge
- Apache Allura
- Launchpad
- AWS CodeCommit