An essential tool for organizations and companies who depend on software development. It was created in the year 2005 by Linus Torvalds and mainly for the development of Linux Kernel. It has become a very popular tool because of its ease of use. However one needs to study all its concepts to get to the pro level. The tools are very easy to install as a disturbed version control system and by using Git the developer can make changes to the code base, avoiding accidents such as overrides. Git automatically updates all the changes and differences for the file. There is a lot to learn if you are a beginner and the Git tutorial will guide you easily with the two technologies i.e. Git and GitHub.
1. How can one install Git?
Because it is a command line program, one will be working with Git all the time. Easy to install because one can use a source, a package manager or an installer and all the instructions are accessible from the source which are easy to follow. You need to grab a copy of the latest version of Git and need to be comfortable with the command line. That can take time to get used to Git because not everyone is used to it. There is nothing to worry about Git because it is all very much straightforward. There will be a repository containing a readme file. Once all of the above is done, you will have to go through the standard set of actions that you will be able to use on an everyday basis. Such actions are – Clone , init, commit, diff, add and log and there are a few more advanced ones as well which you can use. Git is of utmost importance in this particular line of work
2. How Git functions
Once Git is installed you have to sign up through GitHub and make the first repository. The repository will be remote where you along with other developers will include their changes. The initial step is to channelize a code for the developers to work. You can easily use the repository to link local codes to any remote codes. Working on the random code is when you are working on the local copy. Once you are done with the updates, you need to push that code to a remote repository. Configuring Git is the next step where Git can determine who the person is pushing the code to a remote repository and people working on the repository. User’s email and name are the essential configurations and those can be setup following commands. The next step is when Git will use credentials each time when you push the code to a remote repository. In simple language, Git is more complicated and sophisticated than it is explained here.
3. Initializing
Make a sample folder, same as the repository created on Github.
Once the folder is created, you need to open a terminal window from the folder and by following the command given below
cd /path/to/your/existing/code
git init
git init < project directory >
Once the command is successfully executed, the tool will create a hidden directory. In the folder, the object files will store significant information regarding the repository, and also keep a thorough track of files that are changed.
After which you need to link the hidden repository. If there are code files inside the remote repository, then one can simply pull them out and push them inside the local repository.
The above mentioned steps can be compiled into a single one where the repository after you have the remote repository can be combined.
4. Commits
Multiple files are changed at a time, one doesn’t push complete files to the remote repository, and instead one can push the changed code that makes file transfers over the networks at a better speed. Commit objects are much more complex than they appear but they contain the file change metadata, the identity referring to the name of the author of the commit, when the commit was created and the former hash of the commit. According to this information, a hash of a brand new commit is created. If one is aware of the block chain technology, then one can easily think of the history of the commit which is being like a block chain in which the commits appear like the blocks.
The local repository will have three virtual areas or zones and they are working area, commit area, and staging area. With the working area, one can create new files, make changes and delete old files as well. When these changes are done you can add the changes to the staging area which is also called the ‘Index’. Once the changes are done you will find one or more files that need to be committed. Once the commit is created, Git will take away the code that is changed from the staging area and make commit then later it moves to the commit area. Lastly if one does not press the Git push command, the commits cannot be sent to the remote repository.
Key navigation options
Issues – effective and simple issue tracker to report bug problems, request for new sorts of features and other similar tasks.
Code – The default view that shows files in a project.
Wiki – For documenting projects in more details than normal readme file’s allowance.
Pulse – Summary of the statistics of the project which includes both closed and open issues.
Graphs – Where an individual contributor follows a timeline of commits and a breakdown. One can use activity tabs to look at the projects in wide detail that is based on key metrics including code frequency.
The initial concepts explained above can help you understand more about Git and once you have mastered the processes, you can easily get a hold of this then you can easily understand the thorough architecture. All the best!
