9. Version control

Version control tools are an essential part of modern workflows, for backing up and collaborating on codebases. This module takes you through the essentials of version control using Git and GitHub.

Learning outcomes:

• Understand why version control systems are necessary.

Notes:

• Git and associated social coding sites like GitHub have a lot of functionality, and can be intimidating and unfriendly to begin with. This set of conformance criteria does not expect mastery of these tools, but rather an understanding of the basics, and why it is necessary to have some experience here before entering the industry.
• Git is the web industry standard for version control, and has been for some time.

• Understand the difference between Git, and websites like GitHub and GitLab.
• Understand that websites such as GitHub and GitLab enable teamwork and collaboration that isn't so easy just with plain Git.
• Basic setup — installing git, signing up for an account for your chosen social coding site.
• Handling security requirements, like SSH/GPG keys.
• Creating a repo.
• Pushing changes — add, commit, and push.
• Contributing to others' repos:
  • Forking.
  • Creating a new branch.
  • Creating a PR.
  • Review flow.
• Using GitHub pages to publish a sample project.
• Good housekeeping:
  • Regularly update local repos so that they are in sync with their remote counterparts. This includes pulling remote changes to your local repo, and installing package updates (e.g. with npm install or yarn). Always do this before you start working on a local repo.
  • Use .gitignore to ignore all the stuff you don't want to commit. Examples include dependencies, dev source files, and OS-level admin files like .DS_Store.
  • Delete branches you have finished with.
• Handling merge conflicts.

Resources:

• Git and GitHub