1.1 - Git and GitHub

• Differentiate between GitHub as a remote hosting service for version control and Git as a version control system.
• Explain the purpose of the .git directory.

Why teach this?

Differentiate between the use of GitHub as a remote hosting service for version control and Git as a version control system

• Are Git and GitHub the same thing? The first step towards building a mental model of Git and GitHub is to understand what these tools, called Git and its online counterpart GitHub, are for.

Explain the purpose of the .git directory.

• Similar to teaching chemistry, explanations about the structure of a molecule are impossible to demonstrate directly and will need representations. When it comes to .git, we have to explain it as a necessary element to be able to use the commands and Git well.

• To gain a clear understanding of the difference between clone and download from GitHub. Cloning is not ONLY downloading the material, it is also downloading the history of the project.

• To prevent errors.
  There are many errors that can occur when you save a Git directory inside another Git project folder. Nested projects including .git folders are not easy to detect if you have no idea how to recognize a Git repository.

Connection to related topics

Tip

Installation instructions

Do the students have all what they need to work on your course? Software installation can be complex.

• For a complete installation guide I recommend you follow UBC MDS program installation instructions available for three different operating systems (Mac, Linux and Windows).

• If you only want to install Git, Code Refinery has a specific section on its material with their recommended installation also prepared for the three operating systems.

• If you don’t want to install the software, you can also use other technologies, such as Binder.

• Once the software is installed you will need to properly configure Git. To do this, you can read the lesson chapter Setting up Git from The Carpentries. and also check this specific webpage from

Are your students ready for Git? Do they know about…

• …the file system?
  What is the working directory? What is the home directory? If this is the first time that the students are working with this vocabulary, Glossario is a multilingual glossary for computing and data science terms.

• …hidden folders?
  The .git folder is a hidden folder. Are the students familiar with this concept? How can they confirm that it is a hidden folder? The Carpentries lesson about Git has good material about it.

• …the command line?
  Are the students familiar with the use of the command line? If it is not the case there are many IDEs as RStudio, VSCode or Jupyter Lab that provide interfaces to access the commands. The Carpentries lesson about UNIX Shell is good resource to extract exercises and other valuable material. If your students already know about the command line, providing there is more advanced material that can also be provided or taught Aliases and other advanced configuration could be an option.

Mental Model

Activities for the students

• Data Science - A first Introduction (worksheets) Activities to create a repository on GitHub

• The Carpentries - Version Control with Git - Creating a repository

• The Carpentries - Data Carpentry -Git in GitHub

• Code refinery - Introduction to Version Control with Git Here you will find the list of exercises.

• Happy git with R - workshops and activities In this book there are listed workshops where you can find material about this first topics.

Other Git related topics that can be explained at this stage

• Cloning: first to create the repository or is better to run git init? To teach novices, probably is better to start creating a repository on GitHub and cloning from there. Jenny Bryan’s book “Happy Git with R” is a great reading about this topics.
• Connecting to GitHub with SHH Is your connection to the remote secure? “With SSH keys, you can connect to GitHub without supplying your username and personal access token at each visit.”“. The best material here is GitHub Documentation as it is probably updated with the latest updates.

References

Reuse