Hi and welcome to our fourth tutorial in this series. Today i will be teaching you guys how to use Github, as I will be posting all the codes that we will be working on there. This will help you follow up easily and do some practicals later on your own. Lets get started with Github!
You’ll learn how to:
- Create and use a repository
- Start and manage a new branch
- Make changes to a file and push them to GitHub as commits
- Open and merge a pull request
What is GitHub?
GitHub is a code hosting platform for version control and collaboration. It lets you and others work together on projects from anywhere.
This tutorial teaches you GitHub essentials like repositories, branches, commits, and Pull Requests. You’ll create your own Hello World repository and learn GitHub’s Pull Request workflow, a popular way to create and review code.
No coding necessary
To complete this tutorial, you need a GitHub.com account and Internet access. You don’t need to know how to code, use the command line, or install Git (the version control software GitHub is built on). First, we need to install Git (Windows Users), Linux and Mac OS users can do git operations on the Terminal.
Tip: Open this guide in a separate browser window (or tab) so you can see it while you complete the steps in the tutorial.
Install Git on Windows
Git for Windows stand-alone installer
- Download the latest Git for Windows installer.
- When you’ve successfully started the installer, you should see the Git Setup wizard screen. Follow the Next and Finish prompts to complete the installation. The default options are pretty sensible for most users.
- Open a Command Prompt (or Git Bash if during installation you elected not to use Git from the Windows Command Prompt).
- Run the following commands to configure your Git username and email using the following commands, replacing Emma’s name with your own. These details will be associated with any commits that you create:
|
$ git config --global user.name "Emma Paris" $ git config --global user.email "eparis@atlassian.com" |
Git will be useful in performing the git operations from the Command Line in Windows machines.
Step 1. Create a Repository
A repository is usually used to organize a single project. Repositories can contain folders and files, images, videos, spreadsheets, and data sets – anything your project needs. We recommend including a README, or a file with information about your project. GitHub makes it easy to add one at the same time you create your new repository. It also offers other common options such as a license file.
Your hello-world
repository can be a place where you store ideas, resources, or even share and discuss things with others.
To create a new repository
- In the upper right corner, next to your avatar or identicon, click and then select New repository.
- Name your repository
hello-world
.
- Write a short description.
- Select Initialize this repository with a README.

Click Create repository. 
Step 2. Create a Branch
Branching is the way to work on different versions of a repository at one time.
By default your repository has one branch named master
which is considered to be the definitive branch. We use branches to experiment and make edits before committing them to master
.
When you create a branch off the master
branch, you’re making a copy, or snapshot, of master
as it was at that point in time. If someone else made changes to the master
branch while you were working on your branch, you could pull in those updates.
This diagram shows:
- The
master
branch
- A new branch called
feature
(because we’re doing ‘feature work’ on this branch)
- The journey that
feature
takes before it’s merged into master

Have you ever saved different versions of a file? Something like:
story.txt
story-joe-edit.txt
story-joe-edit-reviewed.txt
Branches accomplish similar goals in GitHub repositories.
Here at GitHub, our developers, writers, and designers use branches for keeping bug fixes and feature work separate from our master
(production) branch. When a change is ready, they merge their branch into master
.
To create a new branch
- Go to your new repository
hello-world
.
- Click the drop down at the top of the file list that says branch: master.
- Type a branch name,
readme-edits
, into the new branch text box.
- Select the blue Create branch box or hit “Enter” on your keyboard.

Now you have two branches, master
and readme-edits
. They look exactly the same, but not for long! Next we’ll add our changes to the new branch.
Step 3. Make and commit changes
Bravo! Now, you’re on the code view for your readme-edits
branch, which is a copy of master
. Let’s make some edits.
On GitHub, saved changes are called commits. Each commit has an associated commit message, which is a description explaining why a particular change was made. Commit messages capture the history of your changes, so other contributors can understand what you’ve done and why.
Make and commit changes
- Click the
README.md
file.
- Click the pencil icon in the upper right corner of the file view to edit.
- In the editor, write a bit about yourself.
- Write a commit message that describes your changes.
- Click Commit changes button.

These changes will be made to just the README file on your readme-edits
branch, so now this branch contains content that’s different from master
.
Step 4. Open a Pull Request
Nice edits! Now that you have changes in a branch off of master
, you can open a pull request.
Pull Requests are the heart of collaboration on GitHub. When you open a pull request, you’re proposing your changes and requesting that someone review and pull in your contribution and merge them into their branch. Pull requests show diffs, or differences, of the content from both branches. The changes, additions, and subtractions are shown in green and red.
As soon as you make a commit, you can open a pull request and start a discussion, even before the code is finished.
By using GitHub’s @mention system in your pull request message, you can ask for feedback from specific people or teams, whether they’re down the hall or 10 time zones away.
You can even open pull requests in your own repository and merge them yourself. It’s a great way to learn the GitHub Flow before working on larger projects.
Open a Pull Request for changes to the README
Click on the image for a larger version
Step |
Screenshot |
Click the Pull Request tab, then from the Pull Request page, click the green New pull request button. |
 |
Select the branch you made, readme-edits , to compare with master (the original). |
 |
Look over your changes in the diffs on the Compare page, make sure they’re what you want to submit. |
 |
When you’re satisfied that these are the changes you want to submit, click the big green Create Pull Request button. |
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Give your pull request a title and write a brief description of your changes. |
 |
When you’re done with your message, click Create pull request!
Tip: You can use emoji and drag and drop images and gifs onto comments and Pull Requests.
Step 5. Merge your Pull Request
In this final step, it’s time to bring your changes together – merging your readme-edits
branch into the master
branch.
- Click the green Merge pull request button to merge the changes into
master
.
- Click Confirm merge.
- Go ahead and delete the branch, since its changes have been incorporated, with the Delete branch button in the purple box.


Celebrate!
By completing this tutorial, you’ve learned to create a project and make a pull request on GitHub!

Here’s what you accomplished in this tutorial:
- Created an open source repository
- Started and managed a new branch
- Changed a file and committed those changes to GitHub
- Opened and merged a Pull Request
Take a look at your GitHub profile and you’ll see your new contribution squares!
Cloning a repository
When you create a repository on GitHub, it exists as a remote repository. You can clone your repository to create a local copy on your computer and sync between the two locations.
This procedure assumes you have already created a repository on GitHub, or have an existing repository owned by someone else you’d like to contribute to.
- On GitHub, navigate to the main page of the repository.
Under your repository name, click Clone or download.
In the Clone with HTTPs section, click to copy the clone URL for the repository.
- Open Git Bash (Windows Users) and Terminal in Linux and Mac OS.
- Change the current working directory to the location where you want the cloned directory to be made.
- Type
git clone
, and then paste the URL you copied in Step 2.
|
git clone https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/YOUR-REPOSITORY |
- Press Enter. Your local clone will be created.
|
git clone https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/YOUR-REPOSITORY Cloning into `Spoon-Knife`... remote: Counting objects: 10, done. remote: Compressing objects: 100% (8/8), done. remove: Total 10 (delta 1), reused 10 (delta 1) Unpacking objects: 100% (10/10), done. |
Git clone allows you to pull someones code to your local machine, all the code that we will be working on during this tutorial sessions will be available to all. Feel free to clone anytime and also get in touch if you need help or get stuck along the way.