Git and GitHub: Exploring Their Roles and Functions

The role and function of Git and GitHub in software development is to manage code and collaborative development. Git efficiently manages code versions through commit, branch and merge functions, while GitHub provides code hosting and collaboration tools such as Pull Request and Issues to improve team collaboration efficiency.

introduction

Version control systems and collaboration platforms are indispensable tools in today's software development world. Git and GitHub are among the best, and have become daily tools for many developers. Today we will dive into the characters and features of Git and GitHub to uncover their mystery. If you want to learn how to effectively manage code, collaborate on development projects, and want to gain some practical experience from it, this article is for you.

Review of basic knowledge

Git is a distributed version control system that allows you to record the history of code changes and conveniently perform version fallback, branch management and other operations. GitHub is an online platform based on Git. It not only provides code hosting, but also provides collaborative development, project management and other functions.

Before using Git, you need to understand some basic concepts, such as commit (commit), branch (branch), merge (merge), etc. These concepts are at the heart of Git's work.

Core concept or function analysis

Core features of Git

The core of Git is its ability to manage code versions efficiently. Through commit, you can save a certain state of the code to form a snapshot. Branch functions allow you to conduct experimental development or functional development without affecting the mainline code. When you are ready, you can merge the code on the branch back to the main line.

For example, if you are developing a new feature, you can create a branch called feature/new-function to develop and test on this branch. Once done, you can merge this branch into main branch:

git checkout -b feature/new-function
# Develop and test git add on this branch.
git commit -m "Add new function"
git checkout main
git merge feature/new-function

Core features of GitHub

GitHub is not only a code hosting platform, it also provides a range of collaboration tools. Pull Request (PR) is the most commonly used collaboration method on GitHub. It allows you to submit code changes to your project and let other developers review and discuss these changes. The Issues feature is used to track and manage problems and tasks in projects.

For example, if you find a bug, you can create an Issue to record it, and you can discuss the solution under this Issue. Once the solution is determined, you can create a PR to submit the repair code:

# Create Issue on GitHub
#Develop and fix code git checkout -b fix/bug-123
# Develop and test git add.
git commit -m "Fix bug #123"
git push origin fix/bug-123
# Create a PR on GitHub

How it works

Git works based on object storage and references. Each commit is an object that contains a snapshot of the file's status and a reference to the parent commit. A branch is a reference to a commit. When you merge, Git creates a new commit that contains the changes to the two branches of the merge.

GitHub works more complex. It not only needs to handle Git operations, but also needs to manage user permissions, collaboration processes, etc. GitHub's server will handle the creation, comment, merge and other operations of PR and Issue, and will be displayed to users through the web interface.

Example of usage

Basic usage

The basic usage of Git includes initializing repositories, adding files, committing changes, etc.:

git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"

The basic usage of GitHub includes creating repositories, cloning repositories, pushing code, etc.:

# Create a repository on GitHub git remote add origin git@github.com:username/repository.git
git push -u origin main

Advanced Usage

Advanced usage of Git includes branch management, rebase, etc.

git checkout -b feature/new-feature
# Develop and test git rebase main
git checkout main
git merge feature/new-feature

Advanced usage of GitHub includes using GitHub Actions for automation, deploying static websites with GitHub Pages, etc.

# Create .github/workflows/main.yml in the repository root directory
name: CI
<p>on: [push]</p><p> jobs:
build:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
Steps:</p>

• uses: actions/checkout@v2
• name: Run a one-line script run: echo Hello, world!

Common Errors and Debugging Tips

Common errors when using Git include merge conflicts, missing commits, etc. When resolving a merge conflict, you need to manually edit the conflict file and then submit:

# Conflict during merge git status
# Edit conflict file git add.
git commit -m "Resolve merge conflict"

On GitHub, common errors include PR failure, permission issues, etc. When solving the problem that PR cannot be merged, you can try to change the base:

git checkout feature-branch
git rebase main
git push -f origin feature-branch

Performance optimization and best practices

Optimizing the size and commit history of the code base is key when using Git. You can use the git gc command to clean up unnecessary objects:

git gc --aggressive

On GitHub, optimizing the review process of PR and automated testing with GitHub Actions can improve development efficiency. Here is a suggestion to optimize the PR review process:

• Keep the PR's code volume moderate, usually no more than 200 lines
• Use code review tools such as CodeClimate or SonarQube
• Ensure that the description of the PR is clear and includes the reasons for the change and test results

In practical applications, Git and GitHub experience tells me that mastering these tools can not only improve development efficiency, but also improve the quality of team collaboration. I hope this article can help you better understand and use Git and GitHub, and I wish you to go further and further on the road of programming!

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