An Introduction to Git & GitHub

Software Version Control & Collaborative development

Version control (also known as revision control) systems track changes & updates in files, acting as a backup and log as well as providing tools to combine independent revisions into a single version. This allows bugs to be tracked, multiple collaborators to work on the same code without unduely interfering with each other. In general version control works best with serial, simple files such as the text files used as source code in software programming. The course uses a tool called git and cloud hosting service called GitHub as its version control framework.

Amoung other tasks GitHub is used for:

• The distribution and update of teaching materials.

• Organizing students work during practical exercises.

• The distribution and submission of assignments.

Please see the The git version control system and The Github.com Website pages for links to more information and resources.