Theory to Practice#
You made it to the end of this workshop—congratulations! You now know a little more about why using Git and GitHub in your scholarly practice might be advantageous, and what the challenges are. Below you’ll find a set of readings and tutorials to supplement the lessons outlined herein, and offer additional ways of advancing your use beyond the basics outlined here. There are also additional challenges to test your skills, as well as discussion questions to test your conceptual understanding of these tools. Enjoy!
Evaluation#
Which best describes where you are working when you’re writing in your plain text editor:
on my local machine*
on the internet
Which best describes where you are working when you’re using your terminal to communicate with GitHub and share the files:
on my local machine*
on the internet
Which best describes where your files are when you are viewing them in GitHub:
on my local machine
on the internet*
Git-enabled repository means
none of the files on my local machine are being tracked
a specific file on my local machine is being tracked
a specific folder on my local machine is being tracked*
all the files on my local machine are being tracked
Which command do you use to make a new folder?
pwdcdmkdir*
Which command do you use to enter into a folder?
pwdcd*mkdir
Which command do you use to check where you are?
pwd*cdmkdir
Discussion Questions
What does your current version control workflow look like and what are the challenges it poses; or how could it be improved?
How can git support the work you are already doing?
What additional opportunities does git and/or GitHub and/or Markdown create for your teaching, research or other scholarly work?
What are the potential benefits and pitfalls of working in the open on the web via a platform like GitHub?
Other Tutorials#
Don’t miss Github’s official documentation around Getting Started with GitHub. It is detailed and provides more in-depth examples of how to interact with GitHub using your command line.
FreeCodeCamp has an introductory tutorial for how to use git on your computer, called “An intro to Git: What it is and how to use it”.
LinkedIn Learning: Github#
LinkedIn Learning is available to all active faculty, staff, and students.
You can log into LinkedIn Learning and search for the following courses.
Git Essential Training:The Basics LinkedIn Learning
GitHub Essential Training LinkedIn Learning
Learning GitHub LinkedIn Learning
Projects or Challenges to Try#
Fill in your repository further.
Create a website from your files using GitHub Pages or Jekyll.
Create an independent or collaborative reading group that tracks readings and notes using Git and GitHub.
Use Git and GitHub to track, store, and share an independent or collaborative project folder.
Use Git to track a project on your local machine.
Find and/or modify an existing public project on GitHub.
Reference sheets for Quick Reference#
Cheatsheets For Git
Printable Git cheatsheets in several languages are available here (English version). More material is available from the GitHub training website.
An interactive one-page visualisation about the relationships between workspace, staging area, local repository, upstream repository, and the commands associated with each (with explanations).
Both resources are also available in other languages (e.g. Spanish, French, and more).
“Happy Git and GitHub for the useR” is an accessible, free online book by Jenny Bryan on how to setup and use Git and GitHub with specific references on the integration of Git with RStudio and working with Git in R.
Open Scientific Code using Git and GitHub - A collection of explanations and short practical exercises to help researchers learn more about version control and open source software.
Cheatsheets For Markdown
Markdown Cheat Sheet: provides a quick overview of all the Markdown syntax elements.
The Markdown Guide contains reference guides for basic syntax and extended syntax.