Git and GitHub

Learn Git and GitHub from the ground up through hands-on exercises that teach you real-world version control workflows used by professional developers. Master essential Git operations including committing changes, branching, merging, rebasing, and undoing mistakes. Connect your local repositories to GitHub and collaborate using pull requests. Go beyond the basics by exploring Git internals, understanding how objects and refs work under the hood, and customizing your Git configuration for an efficient development workflow.

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Course Chapters

1

Introduction

Get started with Git and GitHub by understanding what version control is and why every developer needs it. Set up your development environment, install Git and the GitHub CLI, configure your identity, and clone your first repository to begin hands-on practice.

9 lessons
2

Your First Repository

Learn the core Git workflow by creating your first repository and making your first commits. Master essential commands including git init, git status, git add, git commit, and git log. Understand the staging area and how Git tracks changes to your files.

6 lessons
3

Connecting to GitHub

Bridge your local Git repository with GitHub to back up your code and share it with the world. Learn to create GitHub repositories, connect them to your local project using remotes, and push your commits. Practice the complete local-to-remote workflow that forms the foundation of collaborative development.

7 lessons
4

Branching

Master Git branching to work on multiple features simultaneously without affecting your main codebase. Learn to create, switch between, and manage branches. Understand how branches work as lightweight pointers to commits, view branch details, and rename branches to keep your repository organized.

8 lessons
5

Merging

Learn how to combine work from different branches using Git's merging strategies. Understand fast-forward and three-way merges, handle merge conflicts when changes overlap, resolve conflicts confidently, and clean up branches after merging. Essential skills for integrating code changes in any team environment.

9 lessons
6

Collaboration and Pull Requests

Master the pull request workflow used by development teams to review and merge code changes on GitHub. Learn to sync with GitHub, push branches, create and review pull requests, and pull changes back locally. Practice the full collaboration cycle from feature branch to merged code, including pruning stale remote-tracking branches.

10 lessons
7

Rebasing

Learn rebasing as an alternative to merging for integrating changes and maintaining a clean commit history. Understand how rebase works under the hood, handle rebase conflicts, follow the golden rule of rebasing, and use interactive rebase to squash and reorganize commits. Compare rebase versus merge to know when to use each approach.

10 lessons
8

Undoing Things

Master the essential skill of safely undoing changes in Git, from simple fixes to recovering lost commits. Learn to amend commits, unstage files, discard working directory changes, and revert commits. Understand the differences between soft, mixed, and hard resets, and use the reflog as a safety net to recover from mistakes.

10 lessons
9

Git Internals

Peek under the hood to understand how Git actually stores and tracks your code at a fundamental level. Explore the .git directory, learn about Git's object model including blobs, trees, and commits. Understand refs, HEAD, and content-addressable storage powered by SHA hashing. Build a deeper understanding that makes every other Git concept click into place.

10 lessons
10

Configuration

Customize Git to match your workflow by mastering configuration files, scopes, and settings. Learn config file precedence, set your default editor and branch name, create simple and advanced aliases to speed up your workflow, and configure pull and push behavior for a streamlined development experience.

8 lessons