Day 2 - Intro to git

Spring 2023

Dr. Jared Joseph

Smith College

Overview

Timeline

git
Github
git Workflow

Goal

To understand the purpose and application of git and Github

An Aside

Class Network

The Lines are Drawn

git

The Problem

As projects progress, multiple versions of files are created.

(Different versions in time, files with different features, experiments that didn’t work, etc.)

This causes:

Confusion as to the most recent file
Clutter
Difficulty collaborating

What is git

git is a system for version control.

Keep track of multiple versions of files
Try experiments without messing up your working code
Serves as a backup
Allows multiple people to work on the same file

Kinda Like Docs History … But Not

How git Works

Why git is so Efficient

Working with git

git on Your Computer

Github

git and Github

Github as Remote Storage

Collaboration on Github

Github as Portfolio

Using git

Key Terms

repo: Repository - the collection of git files that contain your project
commit: To save a checkpoint of your project for future reference
revert: Undo all changes made to a file since the last commit
staged: A file that is preparing to be commited, but has not yet been
push: To ‘push’ files from your local machine onto an internet service
pull: To ‘pull’ files from a remote service onto your machine
merge: To combine two versions of the same file or project
conflict: When two files or set of files have changes that cannot be easily merged
checkout: Load in a previous checkpoint (commit)

git Workflow

In R Studio

The Commit Window

What is a “Good” Commit?

Are related to one topic/task: Good commits tackle one topic or task at a time. Remember, you are creating save points to come back to if something dosen’t work!

Are frequent: The more often you commit, the better able you are to find where something broke. It also means if you do have to roll back changes, you have less work to re-do

Have descriptive commit messages: Your commit messages should be brief, but descriptive of the changes. Think “if I was using a search bar to find this commit, what would I search for?”