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dev_grrl_japan

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GitHub PROJECT or REPO?

A guide for those who are (were) as confused about the terminology as I am (was).

I'm sure as a new programmer, you took a few online tutorial MOOCs or watched a few YouTube Bootcamps and then deceided to get cracking on a project yourself - since that's what all of the experienced devs always seem to emphasize. "Don't get trapped in tutorial purgatory.

I've heard it all too many times.

Then you whip out your password manager and log into good ol' GitHub hoping to upload something of a project you started all on your own, but then realize something very odd...

Alt Text

But which do you choose...

Don't decide that programming isn't for you. Trust me. You're fine. You just need a guide is all.
I hope I can be that little guide sprite in your GitHub journey..
Lemme break it down simply.

New Repository

Think of this as a folder for all of your project files. It's your project, but you can see everything inside and others can read what it's about in your README and clone it if they wanna see your project on their machines.

Import Repository

Same thing but you import it from somewhere else.

New Gist

A gist is not to be confused with a repository... but it can be stored in one.

Where a repo contains all of your files in your project, a gist is more of an excerpt of a certain part of your project, such as a line of code you want to explain more thoroughly. It could also be a technique or solution you wish to highlight as well, among other things.
KISS: Keep it simple, stupid.

New Organization

This option is for creating a new, well, organization, which is an account which has many linked user accounts and that owns those repositories.

New Project

This term is pretty bad. Let's be honest... Don't think of this as a project, per say, but as a Project MGMT System. If you make a Project you can base it on certain repositories that you have. It helps you get all of your tasks in order that you have to still add to your projects' repository.

And that's a wrap.

I hope that helped straighten things out for you a little.
It sure helped me.

If there are any errors or mods, please let me know in the comments.

Happy Coding!

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liveseed profile image
liveseed

Hello
I have a question.