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Getting Started with GitHub and Creating Branches

BeginnerGuided Project

In this guided project, you will set up a GitHub account, then create and modify a repository on your GitHub page. You will also create and edit a new branch of this repository, then merge the changes into your main branch.

4.5 (846 Reviews)

Language

  • English

Topic

  • Cloud Computing

Enrollment Count

  • 2.40K

Skills You Will Learn

  • GitHub

Offered By

  • IBM

Estimated Effort

  • 1 hour

Platform

  • SkillsNetwork

Last Update

  • January 10, 2025
About this Guided Project
GitHub is a popular online hosting service for repositories, which are copies of an entire project, including its revision history. All files in a repository reside in branches, or separate lines of development. Teams designate one branch as the main branch, the one that stores the finished, deployable code. Users create separate branches to work on new features or edit existing code, then integrate these changes into the main branch.

In this guided project, you will set up a GitHub account and create a repository on your GitHub page. Then you will explore ways to modify your repository, including editing an existing file, creating a new file, and uploading a file from your computer. You will discover how to commit, or save, each change.

You will then discover how to use GitHub’s branching system to update a repository. You will add a new branch to your repository. This branch starts as an exact copy of the repository’s main branch. You will add a file to the new branch, then commit this change to the branch. Next, you will issue a pull request (PR), a mechanism by which you notify others that your changes are ready for review. After reviewing these changes, you will merge them into your main branch.

Completing this guided project will prepare you to create and update repositories on GitHub and to explore this software’s more complex collaboration features.

A Look at the Project Ahead
Once you have completed this project, you'll be able to:
  • Describe GitHub
  • Create a GitHub account
  • Add a repository to GitHub
  • Create and edit a file in a GitHub repository
  • Upload and commit a file to a GitHub repository
  • Create a branch of a GitHub repository
  • Commit changes to a child branch
  • Open a pull request
  • Merge a pull request into the main branch

What You’ll Need
Just a web browser and a personal email account! Everything else is provided to you on GitHub.

Your Instructors
  • Romeo Kienzler
  • Malika Singla 

Instructors

Rav Ahuja

Global Program Director, IBM Skills Network

Rav Ahuja is a Global Program Director at IBM. He leads growth strategy, curriculum creation, and partner programs for the IBM Skills Network. Rav co-founded Cognitive Class, an IBM led initiative to democratize skills for in demand technologies. He is based out of the IBM Canada Lab in Toronto and specializes in instructional solutions for AI, Data, Software Engineering and Cloud. Rav presents at events worldwide and has authored numerous papers, articles, books and courses on subjects in managing and analyzing data. Rav holds B. Eng. from McGill University and MBA from University of Western Ontario.

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