GitHub Resources for Beginners
Using GitHub can be a little intimidating, but it's a better approach for source control. Today, I provide a collection of links to get you started with GitHub to help you understand it better.
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Join For FreeOver the years, I'm sure everyone has worked with a number of version control systems. Subversion. Team Foundation Server (TFS). PCVS. Visual SourceSafe (Ok, I can hear the groans. Sorry about that last one).
However, the one source control system that developers find the most satisfying and easy to use is Git, especially via GitHub. It's actually included in Visual Studio 2015 out of the box so you can have three choices: TFS, Azure, or GitHub.
So just how popular is GitHub? According to GitHut.info, it contains 2 million repositories (with JavaScript in the lead, I might add). Want to see a repository trending on GitHub? Visit GitHubStats.com to see what's hot.
If you're new to GitHub, how do you start working with it without accidentally deleting everyone's repositories...or the Internet? (Hey, it could happen).
Over the week, I've compiled a list of resources for beginners to learn more about the fundamentals and how to get started with GitHub.
DotNet Rocks! Podcast — GitHub Fundamentals with Bill Wagner
Richard Campbell and Carl Franklin walk through the fundamentals of GitHub with expert Bill Wagner. Definitely a great podcast for beginners to understand the difference between fork and a clone? (Just to give you a clue, it's not about eating robots).GitHub's Hello World Tutorial
What better place to go than to the source (excuse the pun). You don't even need to know how to code to use this tutorial. This allows you to create a repository, create a branch, create a pull request, and merge your changes.
GitHub's Good Resources for Learning Git and GitHub
As I mentioned, it's definitely the place to learn about GitHub. They even have video courses and YouTube videos on GitHub.
Understanding the GitHub Flow
GitHub Flow is a branch-based workflow for teams and projects where deployments are made regularly. There's even a PDF of the process. This is a great visual representation of how source code flows through the GitHub process.
Git Tutorial — Try Git
Try Git is a 15 minute online tutorial that quizzes you on how to use git effectively. This is the equivalent of the CSS Diner (from my CSS Resources) for GitHub. Great online quizzing and very informative.
PluralSight
My favorite place to learn about everything, including GitHub. Some of the courses I would recommend are:
If anyone has additional courses, please let me know in the comments and I'll add it to the list.
Git-It using Electron
Jessica Lord from the GitHub staff wrote an Electron (I mentioned Electron from Codemash this year) web application that runs on the desktop and teaches you how to use GitHub.
The code to download is located here (at GitHub, of course) and the release folder is here.
Conclusion
I hope this collection of GitHub tutorials, utilities, and courses provide enough information to get you started. It will be growing as I receive more feedback from my audience.
If you have any comments, post them below and we'll see if we can get them answered.
Published at DZone with permission of Jonathan Danylko, DZone MVB. See the original article here.
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