rapwiki: Diff for "UsingGit"

A lot of what we do involves writing code in some way. When you write code, especially in a group project but even when on your own, it is SUPER-useful to do some kind of source code management (SCM) -- basically, this means using a tool that keeps track of the various changes that different people are making to the code base. Even when only one person is writing the code, SCM helps you keep track of what you have changed since the last "stable" version of your code; anyone who has done a significant amount of programming will be aware of how crazy things can get when you lose track of what you have changed since the last time the code actually worked like it was supposed to.

Anyway, the SCM tool we mostly use is probably also the most common one nowadays, namely Git. What follows is a quickie guide to getting started with Git. It is a really powerful tool, which is a euphemism for "it can be really complicated to use", but 90% of the time you'll just be using a handful of commands. So here's the quick-start guide.

* For reference: If you need more detail than you get here, this is the official Git documentation. Be forewarned that it goes into more detail than you probably need right now.

* For more tutorial-type content: You might try this course on Codecademy. I (Matt) haven't personally tried it but most of Codecademy's stuff is pretty decent. (If you, dear reader, do try it, feel free to edit this article and add your thoughts/notes.)

* On to getting started. First thing to do is make sure you have Git. If you are using a Mac, which you should be if you are in this lab, you already have Git pre-installed. If you are using Linux, you probably have it too (or you are a big enough nerd that you already know how to install packages and can easily do so). If you are using Windows, may God have mercy on your soul. So... for right now we're going to assume you have it.

* Second thing: You don't have to use a website or service to host your code, but there are many benefits to doing so. You may have heard of sites like GitHub or Bitbucket that host repositories of code for you -- we tend to use Bitbucket. To use Bitbucket, you need an account. And then someone in the lab will need to invite you to be a member of whatever project you are working on. So, you can either sign up for a Bitbucket account and then send Matt/Rafay/whoever your username so they can add you, or just send Matt/Rafay/whoever the email address you plan to use to register on Bitbucket. (If you just send them your email address, the invitation email from Bitbucket will then let you create an account with that email address.) Either way, at the end of this step, you will have a Bitbucket account, and someone in the lab will have added you to the relevant project(s).