Git and GitHub Tutorial for Beginners

Overview

A beginner tutorial that demonstrates how to use Git (local source control) and GitHub (cloud hosting and project management). The tutorial walks step‑by‑step from installation through common workflows: commits, branches, merges, conflict resolution, pushing to GitHub, pull requests, and repository management.

Key concepts explained

• Git Free, open‑source source control (SCM) for tracking file changes, viewing history, reverting, and collaborating.

• Repositories A local repository contains a .git folder (created by git init) that stores the project history.

• Three states of files

  • Working directory: files you edit.
  • Staging area: files staged with git add.
  • Committed history: snapshots saved with git commit.

• Commits Snapshots that include author metadata and a message. Inspect history with git log.

• Branches Independent lines of development (git branch, git switch, git merge). Best practice: use branches for features/bugfixes, merge into main, then delete the branch.

• Merge conflicts Happen when the same parts of files were changed in different branches. Resolve by editing the files and committing the resolution.

• Remote / cloud (GitHub) GitHub hosts repositories and adds collaboration and project tools such as issues, pull requests, CI via Actions, project boards, wiki, security scanning, insights, and releases.

Practical setup & common commands

The video demonstrates command usage in a terminal (Git Bash on Windows is included with Git, but any terminal works). Below are the main commands and workflows shown.

Configure identity and default branch

Run these once to set your identity and preferred initial branch name:

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"
git config --global init.defaultBranch main

Help and documentation

• git help <command> or git <command> -h

Initialize repository and check status

• git init
• git status

Track and ignore files

• Add files to staging:
  • git add <file>
  • git add --all | git add -A | git add .
• Create a .gitignore to exclude files (use patterns, e.g., *.txt).
• To stop tracking a file without deleting it locally:
  • git rm --cached <file>

Commit changes

• git commit -m "message"
• git commit -a -m "message" (skip explicit staging for tracked files)
• git commit --amend (edit the last commit message or contents)

Inspect changes and history

• git diff (shows unstaged changes; can be used with other options)
• git log / git log --oneline / git log -p

Restore, delete, and rename

• git restore --staged <file> (unstage)
• git restore <file> (restore tracked file from HEAD)
• git rm <file> (remove a tracked file)
• git mv oldname newname (rename/move a tracked file)

Branch workflow

• Create a branch: git branch <name>
• Switch branches: git switch <branch>
• Create and switch: git switch -c <newBranch>
• Merge a branch into the current branch: git merge <branch>
• Delete a branch: git branch -d <branch>

Advanced history editing (mentioned as advanced)

• git reset <commit> (move HEAD)
• git rebase -i --root (interactive rebase to squash, reorder, and clean up commits)

GitHub integration (connect local repo to GitHub)

• Create a GitHub account and a new repository (public or private). Options when creating: add a README, .gitignore, or license.

• Connect a local repo to GitHub: git remote add origin <repo-URL> git branch -M main # if you need to rename the current branch to main git push # push the current branch git push --all # push all branches

• Sync changes from GitHub:

  • git fetch + git merge (fetch then merge), or
  • git pull (fetch + merge combined)

GitHub features demoed

• Viewing files and commit history; previewing assets (images)
• Editing files in the browser and committing or creating a branch + pull request
• Issues: create, assign, label, and tie to projects/milestones
• Pull requests: discussion, review, and merge; linking PRs to issues can automatically close them
• Projects (Kanban-style boards), Actions (CI/workflows), Wiki (project docs)
• Security: policies and scanning
• Insights: contribution graphs and traffic
• Settings and collaborators management
• Releases: tagging and publishing release artifacts (e.g., v1.0.0)

Guides & tutorial resources

• The video is a hands‑on beginner guide and includes sample files (available in the video description) so viewers can follow along.
• Demonstrations include working with File Explorer/Notepad and Git Bash, and common GitHub UI flows (create repo, push, branch, PR, issues, release).
• The presenter recommends using the built‑in git help and the online Git/GitHub documentation for deeper learning.

Tips & best practices

• Always set git user.name and git user.email so commits are attributed correctly.
• Use .gitignore for sensitive or auto‑generated files (example: EmployeeSalaries.txt).
• Use branches for features and fixes to avoid impacting main; delete branches after merging.
• Review commits with git log and git diff; amend small mistakes with --amend or use interactive rebase to clean history.
• Push to GitHub for backup and collaboration.
• Use pull requests and code reviews to enforce and discuss changes before merging to main.

Main speaker / source

• Kevin Stratvert (presenter of the tutorial video)