Git & GitHub Workshop: Practice Repository

Welcome! This repository is the playground for the BitPolito Git & GitHub workshop. You will go through the whole workflow, from clone to merge, by adding yourself to the list of contributors.

Nothing you do here can break anything: this repository exists to be experimented on. 🙂

What you will practice

By the end of the exercise you will have:

1. Cloned a remote repository onto your computer
2. Created your own branch
3. Made a change and committed it
4. Pushed your branch to GitHub
5. Opened a Pull Request and had it reviewed
6. Merged it into the project

Prerequisites

• Git installed (check with git --version)

• A GitHub account

• Git configured with your name and email:

  git config --global user.name "Your Name"
  git config --global user.email "you@example.com"

• Access to this repository (the instructors will tell you if you need to be added as a collaborator)

The exercise

1. Clone

Copy the repository onto your computer and move into its folder:

git clone git@github.com:BitPolito/git-workshop.git
cd git@github.com:BitPolito/git-workshop.git

2. Branch

Create a new branch named after you, and switch to it right away:

git switch -c your-name

Use lowercase letters and hyphens only, for example ada-lovelace.

3. Modify

Create a new file contributors/your-name.md (use the same name as your branch) with this content:

# Your Name

- **GitHub:** @your-username
- **Favorite Git command:** git something
- **Why I'm here:** a short sentence

Check what changed:

git status

4. Commit

Move your change into the staging area, then save a snapshot with a clear message:

git add contributors/your-name.md
git commit -m "Add Your Name to contributors"

A good commit message is short, written in the imperative ("Add", "Fix", "Update"), and says what the commit does. You can look at the history at any time with git log.

5. Push

Send your branch to the remote repository:

git push -u origin your-name

6. Pull Request

1. Open the repository on GitHub. A banner should offer to Compare & pull request for your branch.
2. Make sure the base branch is main and the compare branch is yours.
3. Give the PR a clear title and a one-line description.
4. Click Create pull request.
5. Review the work of the person next to you: leave at least one comment or approve their PR.

7. Merge

Once your PR has been reviewed, click Merge pull request, then confirm. Finally, bring the updated main back to your computer:

git switch main
git pull

You should now see your file, and everyone else's, in the contributors/ folder. 🎉

Bonus: provoke a conflict

A conflict happens when Git can't decide on its own which version to keep. Better to meet one here than in a real project.

1. Create a new branch from an up-to-date main: git switch -c your-name-conflict.
2. Edit the same line of CONTRIBUTORS.md as someone else, then commit and push.
3. Open a PR. When the second one is merged, GitHub will report a conflict.
4. Resolve it by hand: open the file, keep the lines you want, delete the markers (<<<<<<<, =======, >>>>>>>), then git add and git commit.

Something went wrong?

Problem	What to do
I changed a file and want to discard the change (not committed yet)	git restore <file>
I need to set my work aside for a moment	git stash, then git stash pop to get it back
I committed something that is already shared and it's wrong	git revert <commit>
I don't know where I am	git status and git log --oneline
I'm stuck	Raise your hand: it happens to everyone

Cheat sheet

Command	What it does
git clone <url>	Copies a remote repository onto your computer
git status	Shows the state of your files
git switch -c <name>	Creates a new branch and switches to it
git add <file>	Moves changes into the staging area
git commit -m "..."	Saves a snapshot with a message
git push	Sends your commits to the remote repository
git pull	Downloads and applies the latest remote changes
git log	Lists the commit history

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Made with 💙 by BitPolito