GitHub is a web-based hosting service for version control using Git. It is mainly used for computer code. It offers all of the distributed version control and source code management (SCM) functionality of Git as well as adding its own features. It provides access control and several collaboration features such as bug tracking, feature requests, task management, and wikis for every project.
GitHub offers both paid plans for private repositories, and free accounts for open source projects. As of April 2017, GitHub reports having almost 20 million users and 57 million repositories, making it the largest host of source code in the world.
What is GitHub and what are its main features?
GitHub is a web-based hosting service for version control using Git. It is mainly used for computer code. It offers all of the distributed version control and source code management (SCM) functionality of Git as well as adding its own features. It provides access control and several collaboration features such as bug tracking, feature requests, task management, and wikis for every project.
How do you create a repository on GitHub and how does it work?
To create a new repository on GitHub, you can use either the web interface or the command line interface. To create a new repository using the web interface, you just need to sign into your account, click on the plus icon in the upper right corner, and select New repository. You’ll then need to enter a name for your repository and choose whether you want it to be public or private. Once you’ve done that, you can click Create repository.
How do you clone a repository on GitHub and what are the benefits of doing so?
Cloning a repository on GitHub means that you’re making a local copy of that repo on your computer which you can then edit as you please before pushing those changes back up to GitHub. Cloning repos is useful because it allows you to work offline or make radical changes without affecting the original project; if something goes wrong when you’re experimentings with your clone, you can always delete it and start over again without affecting anyone else working on the repo.
How do you push changes to a repository on GitHub and what are some common pitfalls to avoid when doing so?
Pushing changes to a repo on GitHub simply means taking the changes that you’ve made locally and uploading them to your remote repo on GitHub so that everyone else working on that repo has access to them as well. Before pushing any changes, however, it’s important to pull any recent changes from other collaborators so that you have the most up-to-date version of the repo; otherwise, you may end up overwriting someone else’s work by accident!
What are some other features of GitHub that can be helpful for developers or teams working on projects together?
In addition to being able to view all of the commits made to a repo (and who made them), another handy feature of GitHub is that it allows users to see exactly what files were changed with each commit by providing a “diff” view next to each commit in the history; this can be really helpful when trying to figure out when/where bugs were introduced or get an overview of all the recent activity going on in a given project without having to go through all of the individual commits one at a time.
Conclusion: Overall, GitHub is a powerful tool that can be widely useful for developers working both alone and in teams – especially given its ability track different versions of code (and who made each change) throughout the course of development process! If you haven’t already started using it regularly, hopefully this introduction has inspired check it out and see if it doesn’t make your life just a tiny bit easier 🙂