Introduction to Git and GitHub
Session - Versioning workflow
Zoë Turner
Snapshots
It’s good to practice regular saving of files when you work - whatever the program
- But what if you want to take a snapshot before you do something major?
- You could save files as version 1, version 2 and so on
- Git allows whole project snapshots of many documents
Not just for new material
Have you ever commented out code that you don’t want to use but want to keep - just in case?
- Git allows things to be deleted and add a message as to why you did that
- Roll backs are also available!
- And if you want to find the old code but not roll back - Git has that history, it keeps everything
Local and Remote
Once you have a snapshot stored locally (Git) you can push the snapshot to a remote site (GitHub)
This is like:
- sending file updates by email and also
- sharing on something like DropBox
An unnecessary extra step?
The tendency for much of analysis work is to share once something is finished
But commits (snapshots):
- allow others to contribute with your work in progress
- forces you to think clearly about code as others will see it
- give the opportunity to revert (roll back) to something that was better
Private or public repository?
GitHub offers the possibility of having private repositories
They have a few restrictions on functionality (unless in a paid account)
Still should never have any identifiable information for security
End session
Acknowledgements
Happy Git and GitHub for the useR by Jenny Bryan
