We often do not know about open source software that can help to fulfil our requirements. The Git is one such tool that helps us overcome this problem. But many people do not know what is actually Git, how it works and how one can use it to develop his /her project. So, if you are looking for full information on Git & GitHub essentials, then this is the best place with all sorted information to help you know all about what is Git, its origin, evolution, functions, and a host of other things.
What is Git?
Git originates from the Linux Kernel development and was founded by Linus Torvalds in 2005 and is mostly used for computer code. GIT is actually a free and open source kind of control system that is capable of handling small to huge projects, with high speed, accuracy, and efficiency. An open source refers to a program that is easily available for modifications by other developers. These are freely available. It is easy to learn with various features such as cheap local branching, merging, good staging areas and efficient workflows. The Git was originally designed as a low-level control system engine. The core of Git was initially written in the C language but then it was also re-implemented in other languages such as java, ruby, etc.
Features of Git
Git helps to handle the storage space problem as well by using index files that make it more compact. Though Git has been popular among Integrated Development Environments, adding it and maintaining the same is even more challenging than VCS. Git supports distributed workflows and helps to either converge or diverge the total work. The Git toolkit has many command lines and UI tools on several operating systems, including Windows, which offers fine-grained access to many scripters, though the app developers have faced some problems in this regard.
Previously Git commands were implemented as shell scripts due to which it was not easily portable for Windows. But today there is a new project, especially for Windows, to ensure that it can be ported to Windows on time, without delay.
What is GitHub?
GitHub is basically a development platform that is inspired by how we work. It brings teams together to work out their problems, forward their ideas and to learn from each other all along. The collaboration features a GitHub that makes it perfect. It helps to improve the software you have built. Also, project management is done by team members, thus making it the world’s largest community of software developers and their projects.
Why do we need a Github?
While a Git is a command line tool, GitHub is a repository, which provides a Web-based graphical interface. The predecessors of git such as the CVS and the Subversion had only a central repository, which meant that whenever a developer would make any change, it would directly be made to the main center. But with the distributary pattern in Git, you do not need to check-in to the local server every time you want to make a change in your local copy.
How does GitHub Work?
GitHub is one such repository which has many features. It not only provides control but also has several other features including basic task management tools for each and every project. The three basic features that make Git so powerful are fork, pull request and merge.
- The fork is also known as a branch and is a simple repository that has been copied from one member’s account to another.
- If the developer wants to share the modifications, he will send a pull request to the original repository.
- With GitHub, the pull request, which previously had to be made locally by creating a patch and then emailing the same to the project maintainer, can now be made easily, as the project maintainer can now see your profile and the changes you have made.
- Even when someone doesn’t have the GitHub interface, their contributions, too, can be made easier by GitHub.
- Its version control tools are so powerful that even non-programmers use GitHub to work on multimedia projects. Even private repositories can take the benefits of its collaboration features, and that is why GitHub is so popular and makes so much money in the market.
About GitHub Inc.
GitHub is a private company which was established in the year 2008, in February. It was founded by Tom Preston-Werner, Chris Wanstrath and P.J. Hyett by using Ruby on Rails and Erlang. Its headquarters is in San Francisco, US. They offer plans for private repositories as well as free accounts. The mascot of GitHub is an “octocat” which has five octopus-like arms. Its project sites in Git provide for social networking functions such as feeds, followers etc. Microsoft has been a leading user of GitHub to host open source software and development tools.
Other Contributions From GitHub
GitHub has separate GitHub education units for offering free education to all schools. It helps teachers, students and schools to access the tools that they need for software development in the future. Students can get access to such tools for free, as well as the inculcation of leadership training and training from an early time to shine in the technical industry in the future. Even the teachers get to teach the children real world tools and spread a word about the importance of Git education. They have even partnered with Hackhands, Namecheap, Send Grid etc. to launch their programming. GitHub also has some software that provides service integrations to help add extra features, such as- Roll bar which helps to provide real time debugging tools. It is compatible with different kinds of code languages: Code beat, which helps in automated code analysis for the web as well as in mobile; GitLocalize helps in translating the content by automatically syncing the repository to keep an eye on our work.
What is the use of GitHub Project?
The GitHub project board helps us prioritize our projects. These are made of issues, pull requests, and these are categorized as cards in columns for us to choose from. These cards contain metadata for us like status, labels, who opened the project, etc. Even notes can be created as task reminders, or for linking to another project on board.
Git & Github Essentials
Working with Git can really be overwhelming. It is possible to create repositories on the GitHub website and then synchronize these with a particular project running on a local machine GitHub makes it easy to explode and socialize.
- One can learn more about repositories by visiting profiles of other people and organizations.
- There are three essential commands that can be used to change from a local repository to a remote repository.
- There are three more essential GIT commands that provide the current status of your project. These do not alter anything but only give proper information. These are GIT status, GIT diff and GIT log.
- GIT branches are used in the case of multiple users. These are generally used when working with a team of developers. Branching helps to give proper access to individuals to work independently.
- The GitHub interface can be used to open a pull request before merging process. Pull requests make it easy to share information across collaborators and also look into pure reviews for improved food quality.
- These GitHub and GIT Essentials are everything that one needs to know. Some of the essential GIT commands are git init, git clone, git add, git commit, git push, git pull –rebase, git fetch, git status, git log (git lg) and git diff.
With the above information, it must now be easy to help you sort with the various problems and you can use this feature even without having an account or being a non-programmer.
