Beginner's guide to Git and GitHub.

Learn the basics of Git and GitHub from version control to collaboration tools like pull requests, merge conflicts, and code reviews. Perfect for beginners!
A Beginner’s Guide to Version Control and Collaboration.
If you’ve ever worked on a project and thought, “Wait, which version is the latest? "you’ve already felt the need for version control. In this guide, we’ll walk through how tools like Git and GitHub help developers manage changes, collaborate with others, and keep projects on track all in simple terms anyone can follow.
What Is Version Control?
Think of it as a giant “undo” button that also lets your whole team work together without stepping on each other’s toes. Version control is a system that helps track and manage changes to files, especially source code it is one of the most popular version control systems out there, and GitHub is where Git-powered collaboration happens.
Forking: Making Your Own Copy
When you fork a project on GitHub, you’re creating your own personal copy of it. You can experiment, make improvements, or fix bugs without affecting the original. Later, you can suggest your changes to the original project by opening something called a pull request.
Pull Requests & Working Together
A pull request (PR) is how you propose your changes to a project. It’s where the magic of collaboration happens you get feedback, have discussions, and improve your code before it becomes part of the main project.
Merge Conflicts: Don’t Panic
Sometimes, two people edit the same file in different ways. When Git doesn’t know which version to keep, you get a merge conflict. It sounds scary, but it just means you’ll need to choose which changes to keep. Git will show you exactly what to fix.
Code Review: Helping Each Other Get Better.
Before your code is accepted, someone might review it. Code reviews are friendly feedback loops. They help catch bugs, improve quality, and let you learn from others.
GitHub Issues: Where Work Gets Organized
GitHub Issues help you keep track of ideas, bugs, tasks, and anything else you need to remember. They’re like a to-do list that’s tied to your code very handy for organizing your work and planning what’s next.
Useful Git Commands

Here’s a small set of commands to get you going:

git clone <url>             # Copy someone’s project to your computer
git checkout -b my-branch   # Start a new branch to make changes
git add .                   # Stage all your edits
git commit -m "My changes"  # Save your changes with a message
git push origin my-branch   # Send your branch to GitHub

To get more commands here's a link to a git cheat sheet.
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Pushing Changes and Making Things Official
After working on your fork and committing your changes, use git push to send your updates to GitHub. From there, open a pull request and wait for feedback. Once approved, your code is merged, and boom you’re an official contributor!
Common Git Mistakes Beginners Make (And How to Avoid Them)
Starting out with Git can feel like learning to dance with two left feet. Mistakes happen but that’s part of the learning process!