What is GitHub? How it came about and its importance

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Researching what is GitHub? So know that it is an online project management system and also code versions as if it were a platform in the form of a social network for web developers.

And what is it used for? It, in turn, will allow you to work on collaborative projects, that is, in a team, together with other developers from all over the world, and much more.

By using this platform you will be able to plan your projects in a more optimized way, and also monitor all your work. And we cannot fail to mention that GitHub is practically the largest online repository of collaborative work on the entire planet.

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What is GitHub (Google image)

How did the platform come about?

The GitHub platform was launched in 2008 and had the collaboration of four developers until its creation, they are: J. Hyett, Chris Wanstrath, Scott Chacon and Tom Preston Werner.

For the development of the platform, the technology used at the time was Ruby on Rails, which according to some internet rumors is still the framework used until today.

It was quickly accepted by the large community of web developers, and just to give you an idea exactly one year after its launch on the market, in 2009 they already had no less than just over 90,000 public repositories. And in 2010 it surpassed more than 1 million repositories, and in the year 2012 it surpassed 10 million.

In the year 2018 the platform was purchased by Microsoft for approximately $ 7.5 billion dollars, thus becoming the largest existing open source community and archives in the world. Counting more than 45 million repositories and more than 40 million participating members from all over the world.

What is Git?

It's good that you know that Git is the heart of GitHub, which is nothing more than a version control system that was developed by the creator of Linux, Linus Torvalds.

But now you must be wondering what a version control system is, so even after the project is released by the developers it is normal for their versions to be updated. For example, insertion of new resources and tools, correction of possible bugs, among others.

Thus, the version control system assists in tracking changes made to the base code, not to mention that it also records who made the change. And it also allows restoring code that has been deleted or changed. So since GitHub saves multiple copies in its repository, then there are no code overwrites.

What is Hub?

As we mentioned in the topic above, Git is the heart of the platform, so in this case the Hub completes the tool being its soul. The Hub is the add-in that makes a command line like Git the biggest and best social network for developers across the planet.

GitHub allows you to socialize with many people who share the same interests as you and also to contribute to many projects. Here you can follow other people and you can closely follow what they are doing and even communicate with them.

Whats the matter?

Now that you know what it is, we also believe that it is very important to know what is its importance for a company and its online business.

It is an excellent tool to carry out teamwork, if you need to develop a website or software, know that this online platform will make your work much easier, and everyone's work. Not to mention that platform security is treated very seriously, which is essential for online digital team projects.

And best of all and what makes this platform even more incredible is that several people can work on it at the same time from different places in the world.

In this day and age and in any and every type of business, as you know, workflow automation is more than essential, and GitHub makes it totally possible.

Because the resources and functionalities found on the platform will only contribute to the development of projects, thus facilitating the growth of your business in general.

How to use and what are its main features:

Now in this brief topic we will quickly cover how it works, how to use the platform and what are its main features:

Repository:

The GitHub repository is a directory that stores all your files and code for your projects. But these files can also be hosted on your own computer.

In the repository it is possible to store everything, images, codes, videos, audios and everything else related to your project that is under development.

Branch:

The Branch is an identical copy of the directory, where you can use it to also be able to develop your projects in isolation. Know that working in a branch will never affect the central repository or other branches.

And then after finishing your work on your project, you can combine your Branch, which is isolated on the platform, with other existing Branches through a Merge. And for you to be able to make this combination you will use the Pull Request.

Performing a Pull Request is nothing more than informing other participating members of the project that you are implementing the changes you created in your Branch to the master repository (main repository).

Pull Request:

In turn, other collaborators in the repository can accept or reject your Pull Request. So remember that whenever you open a Pull Request you will also be able to make revisions and also discuss your work with other GitHub participants.

How to Fork a Repository?

Forking a GitHub repository means that you are going to start a new project but based on other existing repositories. Simply put, forking repositories means that you will copy an existing repository, make necessary changes and changes, and finally store the new version as a new repository. That way you can then call the project yours.

This is an excellent tool for project development, and even if the project is completely new, the central directory will never be affected. And you will also be able to apply the update to your current fork.

Conclusion:

So as you can see in our short article, we can conclude that GitHub is a file and code hosting platform for developers, offering many features and functionalities for teamwork and even alone.

That is why we cannot fail to mention that the platform is not just for developers, anyone who wants to manage their project as effectively as possible, and work together with other active people in the community, can also use it.

And if your work team works on large projects and that ends up carrying out many updates, then you will be able to follow all the changes made in a simpler and more efficient way.

And that's it for today, we hope we helped you, big hug and success. A and be sure to take advantage of this tool ?