Intro to Git and

GitHub
Yoo Young Lee
2022.09.28
Fall 2022 DH Toolbox Series
Learning Outcomes
• You will be able to understand basic concepts of version
control system and Git.
• You will be able to perform basic Git commands.
• You will be able to work with remotes.
• You will be able to use GitHub Desktop.
Schedule
Time Topic

11:30 – 11:50 Introduction to version control and Git

11:50 – 12:10 Using Git locally

12:10 – 12:30 Introduction to GitHub – Working with remotes

12:30 – 12:50 Collaboration

12:50 – 13:00 Wrap-up

Pre-workshop setup
• Install Git to your computer
Windows Mac
• git for windows • Download for macOS
• GitHub Desktop • GitHub Desktop
• Install any text editor that you like
• Atom
• Notepad++
• Sublime Text
• More
• For this workshop, simple Notepad works as well ☺
• Create a free GitHub account
Version Control Systems (VCS)
• Tracking and managing changes easily with one single
document

Image credit: https://smac-group.github.io/ds/github.html

Version Control System (VCS)
Version Control Systems (VCS)
• VCS lets you know when a file changed, who changed it, and
also easily roll back those changes.
• Best for text files, not ideal yet for binary files. VCS can store
images and videos, but not developed to easily track changes
in those files.
• Subversion
• Perforce Helix Core
Version Control System (VCS)
• Git
• CVS (Concurrent Versions System)
• Subversion (SVN)
• Mercurial
• Monotone
• Perforce Helix Core
• More
Git
• Free and open-source system and most powerful VCS.
• Distributed system: each contributor has a full copy of
repository which means that they can interact with the tracked
files without needing a coordinating server.
• Can be used on a client machine (e.g., your computer) or
server.
• Use Git with or without network.
• Beneficial for solo projects or multiple collaborators.
For today’s demo
• Using Mac, but you can follow me with Windows.
• Using iTerm2 terminal, but you can follow me with Git Bash
on Windows.
git config
• Set git configuration values on a global or local project level
• Global: apply to all repositories
• Local: apply to a specific repository
• Exercise 1: Common configuration settings: email and
username
• git config --global user.email "your_email@email.com"
• git config --global user.name "your_name"
• git config user.email
• git config user.name
• git config –list || git config –l
git init
• git init: Create a new Git repository and usually the first
command
• Exercise 2: We will create an empty folder (or directory) and
initialize Git using git init
• mkdir folder_name
• This command creates a new folder.
• cd folder_name
• This command moves to the new folder that we created.
• git init
• This command creates a new Git repository.
• ls -a
• This command lists the content and you can see .git
git init
Git

Image credit: https://www.javatpoint.com/git-index

git status
• git status: displays the state of the working directory and
the staging area.
• Exercise 3: Let's create a new file in the directory. Open any
editor you like and type "Hello everyone, this is for
2022 DH Toolbox." and save as "hello.txt"
• git status
Git

Image credit: https://www.javatpoint.com/git-index

git add
• git add: adds a change in the working directory to the
staging area.
• Exercise 4: Let's add the file "hello.txt" to the staging area.
• git add hello.txt
• git status
Git

Image credit: https://www.javatpoint.com/git-index

git commit
• git commit: captures a snapshot of the project’s currently
staged changes.
• Exercise 5: Let's commit a snapshot of the project's currently
staged changes.
• git commit -m "Meaningful commit message"
• Good commit message: a short description of the change (up to 50
characters), followed by one or more paragraphs giving more details
of the change (if needed)
Recap 1: Using Git
• Mostly one time
• git config
• git init

• Mostly used
• git status – git add – (git status) – git commit
Recap 1 - Exercise
• Exercise 6: Let’s modify the file, “hello.txt” and create
another file called, “DH2022.txt.”
• In the hello.txt: Add “Nice to meet you.”
• Create a file called, “DH2022.txt” with a line of “This is intro to
Git and GitHub at the 2022 Fall DH Toolbox Series.”
Recap 1 - Exercise
• Exercise 7: Let’s check git status.
• git status
Recap 1 - Exercise
• Exercise 8: Let’s add the modified file and new file to the
staging area.
• git add hello.txt
• git add DH2022.txt
• git status
Recap 1 - Exercise
• Exercise 9: Let’s commit them to the git repository with a
message.
• git commit –m “Added a new sentence in the hello.txt file
and created a new file, DH2022.txt”
git log
• git log: shows committed snapshots. It is a tool used for
examining a repository’s history and finding a particular
version of a project.
• Exercise 10: Let’s see a commit history in the repository.
• git log
git log
• git log: shows committed snapshots. It is a tool used for
examining a repository’s history and finding a particular
version of a project.
• Exercise 11: Let’s see what has changed.
• git log –p
• git log -2 || git log –n 2
• More git log cheatsheet
git log
Head and Master
• HEAD: the current commit your repository is on.
• Currently checked-out snapshot of your project.
• Master: the name of the default branch that git creates for you
when first creating a repository.
• In most cases, master means the main branch.
git show
• git show: used to view expanded details.
• Exercise 12: Let’s see what has changed in the specific
commit.
• git show commit_number
git diff
• git diff: shows changes between commits, commit and
working tree.
• Exercise 13: Let’s add a new sentence “Today is
Wednesday, September 28, 2022.” in the file, DH2022.txt.
• git diff
git diff
• git diff: shows changes between commits, commit and
working tree.
• Exercise 14: Let’s add it to staging and commit at the same
time as it is a small change.
• git status
• git commit –a –m “Added a date in the DH2022.txt file”
• git diff
Recap 2: Ger more information about changes
• git log
• git show
• git diff
git rm
• git rm: used to remove files from a Git repository. Tell git not
to track a file anymore.
• Exercise 15: Let’s not to track DH2022.txt file.
• git rm DH2022.txt
• git status
• git commit -m “Removed DH2022.txt from the git repository
as we don’t need it anymore”
git mv
• git mv: used to rename or move a file, a directory, or a
symlink
• Exercise 16: Let’s rename hello.txt to hi.txt.
• git mv hello.txt hi.txt
• git status
• git commit -m “Renamed hello.txt to hi.txt”
.gitignore
• .gitignore: indicates files which Git has been explicitly told
to ignore
• dependency caches
• compiled code
• files generated at runtime
• hidden system files
• Etc.
.gitignore
• Exercise 17: Let’s create .gititnore file and create a directory called
photos. Open .gititnore file in any text editor. Then, add
photos/ to tell Git to ignore anything in photos directory.
• touch .gitignore
• mkdir photos
• ls –la
• git status
• git add .gitignore
• git commit -m
“Added .gitignore
file.”
.gitignore
• Exercise 18: Let’s add a photo to photos/ and see how Git
behaves.
• git status
Recap 2: Delete and rename files
• git rm
• git mv
• .gititnore
git checkout
• git checkout: act of switching between different versions –
files, commits, and branches. Used to undo changes in the
working directory.
• Exercise 19: Let’s add more sentences in the hi.txt file. But
you realized that this is not what you wanted.
• git status
• git checkout hi.txt
• git status
git restore
• git restore: restores working tree files and helps to unstage
or even discard uncommitted local changes.
• Exercise 20: Let’s add more sentences in the hi.txt file and
add it to the staging area. Then, you realized that this is not
what you wanted.
• git status
• git add hi.txt
• git status
• git restore --staged hi.txt
• git status
• git restore hi.txt
• If you want to discard changes in working directory – similar to git checkout
file_name
git commit --amend
• git commit --amend: overwrites the previous commit and
allows you to modify and add changes to the most recent
commit. Avoid to use it if commits are already made public.
• Exercise 21: Let’s create a new file fall.txt file and add it to
the staging area and then commit.
• touch fall.txt
• git status
• git add fall.txt
• git commit -m “Added a new file called fall.txt”
git commit --amend
• git commit --amend: overwrites the previous commit and
allows you to modify and add changes to the most recent
commit. Avoid to use it if commits are already made public.
• Exercise 21: (Continued) Then you realized that you didn’t
add any content in the file. So add few sentences.
• git add fall.txt
• git commit --amend –m “Added a new file called fall.txt
with content”
git commit --amend
git commit --amend
git revert
• git revert: creates a new commit with inverse changes and
cancels previous changes instead of making it as though the
original commit never happened.
• Exercise 22: Let’s add more sentences to fall.txt. Then,
you don’t like the sentence that you just added it.
• git status
• git commit -a -m “Commit_message”
• git revert HEAD
• git log -2
git revert
Recap 3: Undo changes
• git checkout
• git restore
• git commit --ammend
• git revert
Branch

Image credit: https://medium.com/@aakarr.me/how-to-create-branch-in-git-6118de02a7c6

• Branch: A pointer to a particular commit

• Master: Default branch that git creates for you when a new
repository is initialized and normally known as clean working
state
git branch
• git branch: used to list, create, delete and manipulate
branches
• Exercise 23: Let’s play with git branch.
• git branch: list branches
• git branch name_of_branch: create a branch
git checkout
• git checkout: used to checkout the latest snapshot for both
files and for branches
• Exercise 24: Let’s play with git checkout to switch to a
branch.
• git checkout name_of_branch: switch to the name_of_branch
• git branch
git checkout
• git checkout -b: used to create a new branch and switch to
it
• Exercise 25: Let’s play with git checkout -b to create and
switch to a branch at the same time.
• git checkout -b name_of_branch
• git branch
Working with branches
• Exercise 26: Let’s create a new file, dynamite.txt in the
lyrics-dynamite-bts branch
• touch dynamite.txt
• git status
• git add dynamite.txt
• git status
• git commit -m “Added a new file, dynamite.txt”
Working with branches
Working with branches
• Exercise 26: (continued) Let’s create a new file, dynamite.txt
in the lyrics-dynamite-bts branch
• git log -2
git checkout
• Exercise 27: Let’s switch back to master branch.
• git checkout master
• git branch
git branch
• Exercise 28: Let’s delete lyrics_dynamite branch.
• git branch -d lyrics_dynamite
• git branch
Master branch
lyrics-dynamite-bts branch
Branch

Image credit: https://medium.com/@aakarr.me/how-to-create-branch-in-git-6118de02a7c6

• Branch: A pointer to a particular commit

• Master: Default branch that git creates for you when a new
repository is initialized and normally known as clean working
state
git merge
• git merge: used to merge a branch to master
• Exercise 29: Let’s merge changes made in the lyrics-
dynamite-bts branch to the master branch
• git status: make sure you’re on the master branch
• git merge lyrics-dynamite-bts
• ls –l
• git log --graph --oneline
git merge
Recap 4: Branching and merging
• git branch
• git merge
Working with remotes

Image credit: https://pratik26.medium.com/git-github-in-8-hours-fdbeaba4635e

Online remote hosting services
• GitHub
• GitLab
• BitButcket
GitHub
• Internet hosting service for software development and version
control using Git.
• Features provided such as distributed version control system
of Git, access control, bug tracking, software feature requests,
task management, continuous integration, wiki, etc.
• Free for educational purpose and open-source software
• https://github.com/topics/dh
• https://github.com/topics/digital-humanities
git remote
• git remote: manages set of tracked repositories
• Exercise 30: Let’s create a repository in GitHub that will be
synced with your local repository.
• Create a new repository first in GitHub.
• Choose private for now.
• To avoid errors, do not initialize the new repository with README,
license, or gitignore files.
git remote
git remote
• Exercise 30: (continued) Let’s create a repository in GitHub
that will be synced with your local repository.
• git remote add origin remote_url
• git remote -v
git push
• git push: uploads local repository content to a remote
repository.
• Exercise 31: Let’s put your local repository to GitHub.
• Generate your personal access token
• Settings
• Developer settings
• Personal access tokens
• Git Credential Manager
• git push origin master || git push –u origin master
• username: your_username
• password: your_personal_access_token
git fetch
• git fetch: downloads content from a remote repository into
your local repository
• Exercise 32: Let’s add README.md in GitHub.
• git remote show origin
• git fetch origin master
• git log origin/master -2
• git status
• git merge origin/master or git pull: To update the content
git fetch
git pull
• git pull: fetches and downloads content from a remote
repository and immediately update the local repository to
match that content
• Exercise 33: Let’s update README.md in GitHub.
• git pull origin master || git pull
GitHub
Recap 5: Add your local repository to GitHub
• git remote
• git push
• git fetch
• git pull
GitHub Desktop
• An application that enables you to interact with GitHub using
a GUI (Graphical User Interface) instead of the command line
or a web browser.
• Login with your free GitHub account
git fork
• git fork: creates a copy of the original repository (upstream
repository).
• Exercise 34: Let’s fork InfiniteUlysses.com repo into your
GitHub account.
git fork
git clone
• git clone: used to point to an existing repository and copy of
that repo in a new directory, at another location.
• Exercise 35: Let’s clone InfiniteUlysses.com repo that you just
forked into your local machine via GitHub Desktop.
git clone
Recap 6: Let’s prepare to work together
• Exercise 36: let’s fork and clone yooylee/DH-2022-Test-Run
repo via GitHub Desktop.
Pull request
• Exercise 37: let’s add more lyrics to dynamite.txt file by
creating a new branch via GitHub Desktop.
• New branch
• Commit
• Pull request
Collaboration Tips
• Always synchronize your branches before starting any work on
your own.
• Avoid having large changes that modify a lot of different
things.
• Have the lates version of the project in the master branch.
• Have good commit messages.
• Describe why merge is needed when you create a pull
request.
More Resources
• GitHub Docs
• Learn Git by Bitbucket