Blog - Understanding Git and GitHub: The Basics for Software Developers

Git and GitHub are like peanut butter and jelly for software developers. Git provides the powerful version control tools needed to manage code changes, while GitHub provides the social coding platform that allows developers to collaborate, share, and build on each other’s work. Together, they create a seamless workflow that empowers developers to build better software faster.”

Introduction

Git is a popular version control system that is widely used in software development. It allows developers to manage changes to their code, collaborate with other developers, and track the history of their projects. Git was created by Linus Torvalds in 2005 and is distributed under the GNU General Public License version 2. In this article, we will discuss the basics of Git, the differences between Git and GitHub, and the benefits of using both together.

What is Git?

Git is a distributed version control system that allows developers to manage changes to their code. It is a command-line tool that works locally on your computer. Git tracks changes to files over time and allows developers to create branches, which are independent lines of development. This allows developers to work on different features or bug fixes without affecting the main codebase. Git also allows developers to merge their changes back into the main codebase once they are ready.

Git has become an essential tool for software development as it helps developers work together on the same codebase while keeping track of changes and ensuring that everyone is working on the latest version of the code.

What is GitHub?

GitHub is a web-based platform that provides hosting for Git repositories. It is a social network for developers that allows them to collaborate on projects, share code, and contribute to open-source software. GitHub offers many features, including pull requests, which allow developers to propose changes to a project, and issue tracking, which helps developers keep track of bugs and feature requests.

GitHub has become the most popular platform for hosting Git repositories, and many open-source projects use GitHub to host their code.

Git vs. GitHub

While Git and GitHub are often used together, they are not the same thing. Git is a version control system that allows developers to manage changes to their code, while GitHub is a platform that provides hosting for Git repositories. Git works locally on your computer, while GitHub is a web-based platform that can be accessed from anywhere.

Git is used for version control, while GitHub is used for collaboration and hosting. Git allows developers to track changes to their code and manage branches, while GitHub allows developers to collaborate on projects, share code, and contribute to open-source software.

Benefits of Git and GitHub

Using Git and GitHub together offers many benefits for developers, including:

1. Version control: Git allows developers to track changes to their code and manage branches, while GitHub provides hosting for Git repositories.
2. Collaboration: GitHub allows developers to collaborate on projects, share code, and contribute to open-source software.
3. Code review: GitHub’s pull request feature allows developers to propose changes to a project and have them reviewed by other developers before merging them into the main codebase.
4. Issue tracking: GitHub’s issue tracking feature helps developers keep track of bugs and feature requests.
5. Learning from others: GitHub allows developers to learn from others’ code by browsing through repositories and contributing to open-source projects.

Installing Git

To install Git on your computer, follow the instructions for your operating system:

Windows

• Download the Git installer from https://git-scm.com/download/win
• Run the installer and follow the instructions

Mac

• Install Git using Homebrew by running the following command in your terminal: brew install git

Linux

• Install Git using your package manager by running one of the following commands:
• Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install git
• Fedora: sudo dnf install git
• CentOS: sudo yum install git

Configuring Git

Before you start using Git, you should configure your user name and email address. This is necessary for Git to identify who made changes to the code.

To set your user name and email address, run the following commands:

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$ git config --global user.name "Your Name" $ git config --global user.email "you@example.com" 

Creating a Repository

A Git repository is a directory that contains your code and its history. To create a new Git repository, follow these steps:

1. Create a new directory for your project: mkdir myproject
2. Move into the directory: cd myproject
3. Initialize a new Git repository: git init

Adding Files to the Repository

Once you have a Git repository, you can start adding files to it. To add a file to the repository, run the following command:

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$ git add filename 

You can add multiple files at once by separating their names with spaces:

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$ git add file1 file2 file3 

Committing Changes

After you have added files to the repository, you should commit the changes. A commit is a snapshot of the code at a specific point in time. To commit changes, run the following command:

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$ git commit -m "Commit message" 

The commit message should be a brief description of the changes you made.

Viewing the Repository History

You can view the history of the repository using the git log command:

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$ git log 

This will display a list of all the commits in the repository, along with their commit messages and other information.

Branching and Merging

Git allows you to create branches, which are independent lines of development. You can create a new branch using the following command:

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$ git branch branchname 

To switch to the new branch, run the following command:

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$ git checkout branchname 

You can merge a branch back into the main branch using the following command:

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$ git merge branchname 

This will combine the changes made in the branch with the main branch.

Remote Repositories

Git allows you to work with remote repositories, which are hosted on a remote server. You can clone a remote repository to your local machine using the following command:

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$ git clone url 

You can push your changes to the remote repository using the following command:

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$ git push 

You can pull changes from the remote repository using the following command:

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$ git pull 

This will update your local repository with the changes made in the remote repository.

“Version control is the backbone of modern software development. Without it, teams risk losing important code changes, introducing bugs, and wasting countless hours manually merging code changes. Git, in particular, has revolutionized the way developers work by providing a distributed version control system that allows for fast, efficient collaboration across teams, locations, and time zones.”

Common Git Commands

• git status: Shows the current state of the repository, including any uncommitted changes and files that have been added or deleted.
• git diff: Shows the differences between the current state of the code and the last commit.
• git branch: Lists all the branches in the repository.
• git checkout: Switches between branches or restores files to a previous state.
• git reset: Unstages changes or resets the repository to a previous state.
• git revert: Creates a new commit that undoes the changes made in a previous commit.
• git stash: Temporarily stores changes that are not ready to be committed.
• git tag: Creates a tag for a specific commit, such as a release or a milestone.
• git remote: Lists the remote repositories that the local repository is connected to.
• git fetch: Downloads changes from a remote repository without merging them into the local repository.
• git merge: Combines changes from two branches or commits.
• git clone: Copies a remote repository to the local machine.

Conclusion

Git is a powerful tool for managing code and collaborating with others on software projects. By using Git, you can track changes to your code, create branches for new features, and merge changes from multiple contributors. With the basic understanding of Git and the most commonly used commands, you can start using Git for your own projects and contribute to open-source software projects.