My Skill Lab
Programming & Web DevelopmentBeginner

Git and GitHub Essentials

Commits, branches, pull requests and fixing mistakes with confidence.

Taught by Anisha Rai · Senior Software Engineer

What you'll learn

  • Set up Git, create repositories and write small, well-described commits
  • Create, switch and merge branches, and resolve merge conflicts by hand
  • Connect a local repository to GitHub over SSH and push, fetch and pull with confidence
  • Open, review and merge pull requests using a feature-branch workflow
  • Choose between merge and rebase, and tidy commits with interactive rebase
  • Undo mistakes with restore, reset, revert, stash and the reflog without losing work

About this course

Git is the version control system behind almost every software team, and GitHub is where most of that code is shared, reviewed and shipped. This free, beginner-friendly course teaches Git and GitHub from the command line up, so you can work confidently on real projects instead of copying commands you do not understand. You will create a repository, write clean commits, use branches, resolve merge conflicts and push your work to GitHub. Then you will open pull requests, review code, compare merge and rebase, and undo mistakes with restore, reset, revert and the reflog without losing work. It suits students, junior developers, data analysts and anyone joining a team that uses GitHub. You need no prior Git experience, just a computer where you can install software and open a terminal. By the end, the Git workflow professional teams use every day will feel routine.

Course content

7 lessons
  1. 1Why Version Control and Your First RepositoryWhat Git does, how it differs from GitHub, and how to set up Git and create your first repository.Preview
  2. 2Commits, History and .gitignoreStage changes precisely, write useful commit messages, read history and keep clutter out of your repository.
  3. 3Branches, Merging and ConflictsWork on features in isolation with branches, merge them back and resolve conflicts calmly.
  4. 4Working With GitHub: Remotes, Push and PullConnect local repositories to GitHub with SSH, then clone, push, fetch and pull with confidence.
  5. 5Pull Requests, Code Review and GitHub FeaturesFollow the feature-branch workflow, open and review pull requests, and use issues, Actions and branch rules.
  6. 6Merge Versus RebaseWhat rebase really does, when to prefer it over merge, and how to tidy commits with interactive rebase.
  7. 7Undoing Mistakes Without Losing WorkRestore files, amend commits, reset, revert, stash and recover almost anything with the reflog.