Git: How To

Updated myk45 0 Tallied Votes 487 Views Share

Hi All!

This article is mainly focused at someone who is completely new to Software versioning. In this article, we see how Git can be used as a tool for versioning software. Please note that this is very brief. There are many videos/articles that deal in detail.

1) What is Git and why we use it?
Git is a tool that can be used for distributive development of software. What this means is:
Say we have 10 people working on a project. All working on different parts of a software. Now, without a standard and systematic approach, it becomes very hard for developing software. In very simple words, Git is one of the many tools that provide this systematic approach.

2) How do I start using Git?
Git is mainly a command-line based tool. Howvever, there are several GUI based extensions for it as well:
For eg: Git Extensions
So, to get started, please install this. The install procedure is clearly provided in the website.

3) Most commonly used terms:
a) Repository: A collection of files.(simple definition)

b) Clone repository: Take a copy of the files from a server onto your local hard-drive(some local storage
space)

c) Commit: An event, that says "hey i have some changes in my files, i now want to mark it". So, basically a commit is something that you keep as a reference for change.

4)** How do i clone a repository from Github?**
Simple. Open GitExtensions, Commands->Clone Repository->"provide path here"
The path would be something like https://github.com/Daniweb/Dynamic-Array-Library.git Now, place this in the "Repository to clone" path, then click clone. This will get you the files from the repository on a server.

I hope this is enough for a really rough start of using Git(and Github repositories). Please read online for more details about the same.

Also, kindly post questions for clarifications.
Good luck!

nitin1 15 Master Poster

the knowledge which you guys are providing is incredible. hey! what exactly i can do in github ? means what specific use github has ? just uploading your project files ? thanks

deceptikon 1,790 Code Sniper Team Colleague Featured Poster

means what specific use github has ?

Github is a host for version control repositories.

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