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Afrie Irham
Afrie Irham

Posted on • Originally published at blog.afrieirham.com on

GitHub – What I've figured out.

Since I started taking Computer Science course, I have time and time again been brought up with this GitHub thing. I have realised that it is something that I need to embrace and learn, instead of avoiding it. So this is what I have figured out about GitHub, as it is for now. Enjoy reading!

What is GitHub?

My simplest explanation is

GitHub = Google Drive (for codes)

That is what I have used GitHub for. At least for now.

But of course, it is more than just a Cloud Storage.

1520201797310.jpeg

How do I get started?

  1. Sign Up for free.
  2. Download the GitHub for Desktop
  3. You are basically done.

GitHub Desktop?

1520212528210.jpegThis is the main app I use to "Push" or "Pull" my codes and create a repository on my GitHub profile.

If you have used Google Drive (Backup and Sync) app for windows, it is basically the same.

Those fancy words. {push, pull, fork, clone, commit, etc}

On GitHub, there are some of a few terms that I have been forced to understand what it means.

  • Repository (read; repo) = The main file containing all the necessary pieces of information.
  • Push = Updating by uploading the codes and files into the repository.
  • Pull = Updating by download the codes and files from the repository.
  • Commit = Literally "commit" a change to the codes or files.

These are some of the words that I can explain using my own words because I have been dealing with it for now.

There are a lot more, but I'm still confused with them.

I have tried to "clone" and "fork" stuff. But I am still not 100% sure about it. What I think it means is;

  • Clone = Download the repository without affecting the real repo.
  • Fork = Copy someone else's repo and put it into your repo.

Those are some of it, again, I might be wrong because I'm trying to explain it using my own words. You can always google it yourself.

Conclusion.

GitHub is a development platform that developers always use to organise their codes. Developers and coders can also do a collaboration on a project. GitHub makes it easy for them to work as a team, solving problems, creating apps, develop a website etc.

Bottom line, as a Software Engineering student, I will somehow face this again in the near future. It is not thought in schools, and we are expected to figure it out ourselves if we are going to pursue in this coding field.

I hope you get some values out of this, either you are trying to figure out yourself too or you are an experienced programmer.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave a comment.

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