What Is GitHub– What GitHub is Used for – How GitHub works –
Have you come across the name GitHub? Whether you’ve come across the name or not, this post will give you a clear explanation of what GitHub is and what it’s used for on the internet.
To start with, GitHub is a website or an open-source version control system/web platform with the URL extension www.gitbub.com where files or code created by developers are uploaded for changes or vetting by fellow developers.
About GitHub
More of what you need to fully understand all that is done on GitHub is that it’s an open-source version control system like Linux which simply means that other users with access to the platform can make changes to files, codes, or documents uploaded on the platform.
How GitHub Works
If you are a Linux user, understanding how GitHub works wouldn’t be such of an issue to you. It’s simply a platform created for the collaboration of developers in helping to bring new ideas, alter a change to an already existing project.
Take for instance, when an app is created or built by a developer, the code of the previous version of the app is uploaded on GitHub thereby making the code available and accessible to other developers for downloaded and making any modification necessary to create a better version of the app and re-upload the newest version in a central repository.
The new changes made are visible to all other developers even people or developers who didn’t take part in the first non-beta, beta, and other released versions of the code or app can still have access to the project, download it and use it.
The best and most amazing feature of GitHub is that it stores file changes more efficiently and ensures file integrity. Wherein the original owner of the source code can be traced as well as GitHub reverberating “Command-line tool.
GitHub Features
There are different features and tasks performed on GitHub that made it the developer’s favorite. Some of the GitHub features we will discuss in this post is highlighted below;
- Repository
- Forking a Repository
- Pull Request
- Changelogs
- Social Networking
GitHub Repository – www.github.com Feature
Just like files and document in a computer is saved in folders so also is projects created by developers is saved in the repository. Note that each project file is saved in a separate repository accessible with a separate link or URL. You would also note that the repository is represented with “repo”.
Forking a Repository at www.github.com
When a developer creates a new project from an existing project, the developer forked a repo. Forking a rapo is simply, downloading an existing project in a repository, making changes to create a new project, and uploading the modified project as a new rapo. If an update is made to the original project you forked, you can add the updates to the project you forked.
Using the Pull RequestsFeature on GitHub
By now, I assume you understand what forking a rapo is. With that knowledge, if you forked a rapo and want to be recognized by the source developer (original project developer) or the project file to be included in the original or source repository, the feature that does that is the “pull request”. If a pull request is sent, the original developer can view that pull request and decided either to add it to the original rapo or not. More so, there is a communication line created between the modifying developer and the original developer when a pull request is sent.
Show your Expertise through GitHub Social Networking Feature
More amazing is the social networking feature on GitHub.com. Making it easy for developers to create profiles showcasing their past work, forked rapo, and pull requests. With the social networking feature forked rapo or modified projects is made available for public review, contribution, and discussion to find a more advanced or better way of creating the project. This feature solves the headache of looking for ways to contact the original developer or the modifier.
Keep track of each change on a Project by Multiple Developers with the GitHub Changelogs Feature
When a forked project or a project is discussed on the social networking channel of GitHub and different developers collaborate to make changes on the project, it becomes difficult if not impossible to trace project modifications, developers who modified, and the repository the modified or revised project is saved.
That necessitated GitHub to create a way of tracking all the changes made on a project by keeping changelogs of each project modification pushed to the original repository.