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GitHub Basics

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3:01 with Kyle Daigle and Alyson La

Explore some of the Key Features of GitHub

Further reading

Key Terms:

Repository: A GitHub Repository contains all the project files, and stores the history of each file.
Code View: The Code View is where you will find the files included in the repository, including the project source code, documentation, any license files, or readme, all of which is tracked through Git version control
License: File which allows for the source code to be used, modified, and/or shared under defined terms and conditions
Readme: A special file that explains the project. It may contain information on how to get started or contribute to the project.
Issues: A specific page that allows users to submit and track bugs and feature requests.
Pull Request: Represents a change, such as adding, modifying, or deleting lines of code, or whole files.

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    Now that we've got our account setup, 0:00
    let's talk about some of the key features and explore. 0:02
    A repository is the most basic element of GitHub, 0:06
    it's easiest to imagine as a projects folder. 0:09
    Unlike an ordinary folder on your computer, 0:12
    a GitHub repository offers simple, but powerful tools for working on a project. 0:14
    Our repository contains all the project files, including documentation and 0:19
    stores the history of each file. 0:23
    Whether you're working by yourself, exploring open source projects or 0:25
    getting in started and 0:28
    contributing to a project, knowing your way around a repository is essential. 0:29
    By navigating to github.com/explore, we can browse through popular repositories 0:34
    organized around interesting topics or by what's trending. 0:39
    We can also just search by keywords, languages or 0:43
    if we know what we're looking for, a project or username. 0:45
    I heard about a really neat open source project from a friend, git-it, so 0:48
    let's check that out. 0:52
    In the search bar, I'll type in git-it. 0:54
    Looks like that's set in the search results. 1:00
    We can set that there is a repository of git-it with a username, jlord. 1:02
    We can click on it and see there is a lot of information here. 1:06
    We see a brief description of the project, the URL. 1:12
    Some helpful numbers about commits, branches, releases and contributors. 1:16
    And just above, you'll see multiple tabs for each of the different features and 1:21
    views. 1:26
    The Code view is where you'll find the files included in the repository. 1:27
    These files may contain the source code or any documentation and usually, 1:31
    a license file and a README. 1:36
    Any changes to these files will be tracked via Git version control. 1:38
    A licensed file allows for the source code to be used, modified, and, or 1:42
    shared under the defined terms and conditions. 1:46
    The README is a special file that explains the project and depending on the repo, 1:49
    information on how to get started and how to contribute. 1:53
    The README.md file is shown at the bottom of the repository home page. 1:56
    In addition to being a place to host and share your Git projects, 2:04
    GitHub provides features like issues and pull requests. 2:07
    Issues are used to track bugs and feature requests. 2:11
    We can see that there are several open issues and even more closed issues. 2:15
    If you have a feature request or a bug for a specific project, the first thing to do 2:18
    would be to search the issues to see if someone else has already reported it. 2:22
    Let's take a look at the pull requests tab. 2:26
    A pull request represents a change, such as adding, 2:29
    modifying or deleting lines of code or whole files. 2:32
    Pull requests let you discuss and review changes and 2:35
    are typically used to resolve issues. 2:38
    Taking a look at pull requests, 2:40
    you can learn a lot about the evolution of a project. 2:41
    You can click in and see who opened the pull request for 2:45
    conversations surrounding the change, the commits involve and what files changed. 2:47
    Before starting the next video, 2:55
    take some time to explore some repositories on GitHub. 2:57

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