Git to the Rescue: An introduction to Git for Researchers
Git is a version control system used to track and publish changes in the files and folders of a project. This series of articles provides an introduction on how to incorporate Git and related platforms for collaboration into research activities.
This series was created to provide a brief yet complete tutorial on Git for those who are not yet familiar with this version control system.
The technology behind Git is such that every subcomponent is interrelated — this makes it difficult to study each module in isolation. Instead, this guide to Git for Researchers provides explanations and draws connections from multiple perspectives to paint the fullest picture possible of how to work with this technology.
You can learn about different aspects of this version control system in the following articles, written by
and edited by .Episode 1 — The philosophy of Git
Episode 2 — Getting reports from Git
Episode 4 — Git under the hood part 1: object storage in Git
Episode 5 — Git under the hood part 2: referencing commits
Episode 6 — Git under the hood part 3: the Git directory
Episode 7 — Climbing around the Git tree
Episode 8 — Remote repositories and Git part 1: remote collaboration
Episode 9 — Remote repositories part 2: Remote branches
Episode 10 — Ignoring files in Git
Note: Even though this guide is meant to be comprehensive, the authors suggest taking a few hours to become familiar with the concepts of Git prior to beginning the articles. This series is intended to provide a basic idea of the mechanics of Git’s inner workings, so taking time to read some background information about its development, download the program, and get some hands-on practice will really help to contextualise the information within. Git it is a free and open source technology, so there are plenty of resources for learning and practicing. Many MOOC providers have free courses on working with Git and GitHub.
Ready to start? Let’s jump into Git!
Disclaimer: Git is a massive ecosystem and perhaps nobody can claim to know everything about it. To learn more about this powerful version control system, please visit the Git documentation.
