The definitive, hands-on course for developers who want to master version control, collaborate effectively, and build modern software.
Enroll Now & Start LearningIn today’s software development landscape, proficiency in Git and GitHub is not just a desirable skill—it's an absolute necessity. Whether you are a solo developer tracking your project's history, a student preparing for a tech career, or part of a large distributed team building the next big thing, version control is the backbone of modern development.
This course is meticulously designed to take you from a complete novice to a confident practitioner. We don't just teach you the commands; we teach you the concepts, the workflows, and the best practices that will make you a more efficient, collaborative, and valuable developer. Forget copy-pasting code into `_v2_final_final` folders. It's time to learn the professional way to manage code, track changes, and collaborate seamlessly.
Grasp the core concepts of distributed version control, from the repository structure to the three-tree architecture.
Master the GitHub platform for remote repository management, code reviews, and powerful collaboration.
Effortlessly manage branching, merging, and rebasing. Learn to resolve merge conflicts like a pro.
Apply industry-standard workflows to contribute to open-source projects or excel in a professional team environment.
A 10-module journey packed with hands-on practice at every step.
This foundational module sets the stage for your entire journey into version control. We begin by answering the fundamental question: What is version control? You'll learn that a Version Control System (VCS) is a tool that helps a software team manage changes to source code over time. It's like a time machine for your codebase, allowing you to recall specific versions, track every modification, and understand who made what change and why. We'll explore the painful "before" scenario—managing projects with dozens of copied folders—to truly appreciate the problem that VCS solves.
Next, we dive into the critical distinction between Centralized vs. Distributed VCS. We'll analyze systems like Subversion (SVN) where a single central server contains all the versioned code, and contrast it with the modern, distributed model pioneered by Git. You'll understand the profound advantages of the distributed approach, where every developer has a full copy of the project history, enabling faster operations, offline work, and more robust and flexible workflows.
We then focus on Why Git? and its real-world applications. Git has become the de facto standard for version control, and for good reason. We’ll discuss its speed, data integrity, and support for non-linear development. We'll look at case studies from small startups to tech giants like Google and Microsoft, demonstrating how Git powers the development of everything from small websites to massive operating systems like Linux, which was the very project Git was created to manage.
Finally, we get hands-on with Installing Git. We provide step-by-step, easy-to-follow video and text guides for installing Git on all major operating systems: Windows, macOS, and Linux. We cover common pitfalls and ensure you have a clean, successful installation. To wrap up the module, you'll perform your first interactions with Git through the command line, learning the Basic Git configuration (git config). You'll set up your username and email, essential identifiers for every change you make, and learn how to customize your Git environment for a more productive workflow.
Module 2 is where your hands-on journey truly begins. You'll move from theory to practice, creating and managing your very first Git repository. The first step is Creating a Git repository (git init). We will guide you through this simple yet powerful command, explaining what happens behind the scenes when you transform an ordinary folder into a Git-powered repository. You'll learn about the hidden `.git` directory and its crucial role in storing all the history and metadata of your project.
With a repository in place, we introduce the cornerstone concept: the Git workflow. You will gain a deep, conceptual understanding of the three main states a file can be in, which correspond to Git's three main sections: the Working Directory, the Staging Area, and the Repository. The Working Directory is your project folder, where you create and edit files. The Staging Area is a unique and powerful feature in Git, acting as an intermediate area where you prepare a snapshot of changes before committing them. The Repository is where Git permanently stores those snapshots (commits). Understanding this three-stage process is the key to mastering Git.
Next, you'll learn the essential commands for moving changes through this workflow. With Tracking files (git add, git status), you'll see how to tell Git to start tracking a new file and how to use `git status`—your most trusted command—to check the current state of your repository. You’ll learn to interpret its output to see which files are modified, staged, or untracked. Then, you'll learn about Saving changes (git commit). A commit is a snapshot of your staged changes at a specific point in time. We'll emphasize the art of writing clear, descriptive commit messages, a vital practice for effective collaboration.
Finally, you need a way to see the history you're creating. We'll explore Viewing commit history (git log). You'll start with the basic `git log` command and then discover its powerful options to format the output, filter commits by author or date, and visualize the history in more intuitive ways, such as a graph of branches. By the end of this module, you'll have completed the entire basic Git cycle: modify, stage, commit, and review.
In Module 3, we solidify your understanding of the fundamental Git workflow and introduce essential tools for managing your project's files and history. We start by clarifying the Difference between `git add` and `git commit`. While you used them in the previous module, we now dive deeper. You'll learn that `git add` is about carefully crafting your next commit by adding content to the staging area, not just files. This allows you to commit only a subset of your changes, leading to more atomic, logical commits. `git commit` then takes that carefully staged snapshot and saves it permanently to your project history.
An essential part of any real-world project is ignoring files that shouldn't be tracked, such as log files, build artifacts, or secret credentials. We'll teach you the importance and syntax of Understanding `.gitignore`. You'll learn how to create and configure this special file using patterns to tell Git which files and directories to ignore, keeping your repository clean and focused only on the source code that matters.
Project management isn't just about adding new files. You'll learn how to manage existing files within Git's tracking system. We cover Removing and renaming files (git rm, git mv). You'll understand why using these Git commands is superior to using the standard `rm` or `mv` shell commands, as they not only perform the file system operation but also automatically stage the change for you, streamlining your workflow.
Mistakes happen, and knowing how to fix them is a developer's superpower. We'll cover Undoing changes (git restore, git reset). You'll learn the modern `git restore` command to discard changes in your working directory or unstage files from the staging area. We'll then introduce the powerful but more dangerous `git reset` command, explaining its different modes (`--soft`, `--mixed`, `--hard`) and the specific scenarios where it's used to rewind your project history. This section is packed with safe, hands-on examples to build your confidence. To tie everything together, we'll end by Exploring file states: untracked, staged, committed, providing a clear mental model of a file's lifecycle within a Git repository, reinforcing the concepts from the last two modules.
This module introduces what is arguably Git's most powerful feature: branching. We begin by asking, What are branches in Git? You'll learn that a branch is simply a lightweight, movable pointer to a commit. This feature allows you to diverge from the main line of development and continue to work in an isolated environment without affecting the stable codebase. We'll explain why this is a game-changer for feature development, bug fixing, and experimentation.
Next, you'll learn the practical commands for Creating, switching, and deleting branches. We'll cover `git branch` to list and create branches, and the modern `git switch` command to navigate between them. We'll also cover the older but still widely used `git checkout` command, explaining its dual purpose and why `git switch` is now preferred for changing branches. You'll get hands-on practice creating a feature branch, making some commits, and then seamlessly switching back to your main branch, seeing how your working directory changes instantly.
Once work on a feature branch is complete, you need to integrate it back into the main line. This is done by Merging branches (git merge). We will walk you through the process of a "fast-forward" merge, the simplest case, and then a standard "three-way" merge, which creates a new merge commit to tie the two histories together. You'll visualize how the commit graph changes after a merge operation.
Of course, mer