GitHub Skills: Introduction to GitHub

Before you start

The interactive exercise needs a GitHub account and uses a copied repository. Check institutional account policy before assigning it.

Key things to watch for

• A commit records a meaningful change, not simply the end of the day
• A branch gives a change its own place to be reviewed
• A pull request is a conversation about a proposed change
• Merging is distinct from saving or uploading a file

Don’t worry about this yet

Command-line Git, large-file storage and complex branching models can wait until the basic change-review-merge cycle makes sense.

Try this afterwards

Create a small repository with a README and design values. Make one named change on a branch, review it and merge it.

Teaching idea

Give each pair a badly named set of commits and ask them to rewrite the history as a useful production story on paper.

Next step

Read the opening Pro Git chapter to understand why version control exists beyond GitHub's interface.