GitHub

What is a repository?

A repository is usually used to organize a single project. Repositories can contain folders and files, images, videos, spreadsheets, and data sets - anything your project needs. We recommend including a README, or a file with information about your project. GitHub makes it easy to add one at the same time you create your new repository. It also offers other common options such as a license file.

What is branching?

Branching is the way to work on different versions of a repository at one time. By default your repository has one branch named master which is considered to be the definitive branch. We use branches to experiment and make edits before committing them to master. When you create a branch off the master branch, you're making a copy, or snapshot, of master as it was at that point in time. If someone else made changes to the master branch while you were working on your branch, you could pull in those updates.

What are commits?

On GitHub, saved changes are called commits. Each commit has an associated commit message, which is a description explaining why a particular change was made. Commit messages capture the history of your changes, so other contributors can understand what you've done and why.

What is a pull request?

Pull Requests are the heart of collaboration on GitHub. When you open a pull request, you're proposing your changes and requesting that someone review and pull in your contribution and merge them into their branch. Pull requests show diffs, or differences, of the content from both branches. The changes, additions, and subtractions are shown in green and red.