Tips for using Git and GitHub

Author

Tom Palmer

Published

January 17, 2023

Introduction

The following is intended as a set of tips for people learning how to use Git and GitHub.

Session plan

  • Introduction
  • Tips
  • Short practical on making a pull request
  • Elsie - the OpenSAFELY codelist system

Session aims

By the end of the session you should

  • have a basic understanding of how Git works
  • be able to perform common Git operations using GitHub Desktop and the GitHub web interface, including
    • clone a repo from GitHub
    • make a new branch
    • make commits
    • push your branch to GitHub
    • make a pull request

Guides to Git and GitHub

There are many excellent guides to Git and GitHub online, e.g.,

  • Intro to GitHub here
  • GitHub Training & Guides YouTube channel here
  • Git documentation and training here
  • Hadley Wickham on Git here
  • Jenny Bryan on Git and GitHub with R here

And most relevantly the OpenSAFELY documentation here.