Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction to Version Control, Git, and GitHub
1.1 What is Version Control?
1.1.1 The Problem Without Version Control
1.1.2 Centralized vs. Distributed Version Control Systems (DVCS)
1.2 What is Git?
1.2.1 The History of Git
1.2.2 Key Concepts in Git (Snapshotting, Staging Area)
1.3 What is GitHub?
1.3.1 GitHub as a Platform
1.3.2 GitHub vs. Git
1.4 Why Use Git and GitHub?
1.4.1 Benefits for Individual Developers
1.4.2 Benefits for Teams
1.4.3 Benefits for Open Source Projects
1.5 Setting Up Your Environment
1.5.1 Installing Git
1.5.2 Creating a GitHub Account

Chapter 2: Git Basics - Getting Started with Your First Repository
2.1 Git Installation and Initial Configuration
2.1.1 Verifying Git Installation
2.1.2 Setting Your User Name and Email (git config)
2.2 Creating a New Local Repository (git init)
2.2.1 Initializing a Project Directory
2.2.2 The .git Folder
2.3 Cloning an Existing Repository (git clone)
2.3.1 Cloning from a Remote URL
2.3.2 Cloning Options
2.4 The Git Workflow: Stage, Commit, Push
2.4.1 Checking Status (git status)
2.4.2 Staging Changes (git add)
2.4.3 Committing Changes (git commit)
2.4.4 Viewing History (git log)
2.5 Modifying and Deleting Files
2.5.1 Tracking Changes
2.5.2 Unstaging Changes (git reset)
2.5.3 Discarding Local Changes (git checkout, git restore)

Chapter 3: Exploring GitHub Repository Anatomy
3.1 Creating a New Repository on GitHub
3.2 Repository Structure Overview
3.3 Key Tabs and Sections
3.3.1 Code Tab: Browsing Files, Commits, Branches, Tags
3.3.2 Issues Tab: Tracking Tasks, Bugs, and Enhancements
3.3.3 Pull Requests Tab: Proposing and Reviewing Changes
3.3.4 Actions Tab: Setting up CI/CD and Automation
3.3.5 Projects Tab: Organizing Work with Boards
3.3.6 Wiki Tab: Documentation (Optional)
3.3.7 Security Tab: Dependabot, Code Scanning, etc.
3.3.8 Insights Tab: Activity, Network, Forks, Contributors
3.3.9 Settings Tab: Managing Repository Configuration
3.4 Essential Repository Files
3.4.1 README.md: Project Introduction
3.4.2 LICENSE: Defining Usage Rights
3.4.3 .gitignore: Excluding Files from Tracking
3.5 Understanding Git Remotes
3.5.1 Adding a Remote (git remote add)
3.5.2 Fetching and Pulling Changes (git fetch, git pull)
3.5.3 Pushing Changes (git push)

Chapter 4: Branching and Merging - Working on Different Ideas
4.1 Understanding Branches
4.1.1 Why Use Branches?
4.1.2 The main (or master) Branch
4.2 Branch Operations
4.2.1 Listing Branches (git branch)
4.2.2 Creating a New Branch (git branch )
4.2.3 Switching Between Branches (git checkout , git switch )
4.2.4 Creating and Switching (git checkout -b, git switch -c)
4.2.5 Renaming a Branch (git branch -m)
4.2.6 Deleting a Branch (git branch -d)
4.3 Merging Branches
4.3.1 The Merge Process (git merge )
4.3.2 Fast-Forward Merge vs. Three-Way Merge
4.3.3 Resolving Merge Conflicts
4.4 Introduction to Rebasing
4.4.1 What is Rebasing? (git rebase)
4.4.2 Rebase vs. Merge: Choosing the Right Strategy
4.4.3 Interactive Rebasing (Introduction)

Chapter 5: Collaborative Workflows with GitHub
5.1 Choosing a Workflow Strategy
5.1.1 Centralized Workflow
5.1.2 Feature Branch Workflow
5.1.3 Gitflow Workflow (Introduction)
5.1.4 Forking Workflow (for Open Source)
5.2 Working with Remotes in a Team
5.2.1 Adding Multiple Remotes
5.2.2 Fetching and Tracking Remote Branches
5.3 Contribution via Pull Requests
5.3.1 Creating a Pull Request
5.3.2 The Pull Request Review Process
5.3.3 Discussing Changes, Requesting Reviews
5.3.4 Updating a Pull Request
5.3.5 Merging a Pull Request (Merge Commit, Squash and Merge, Rebase and Merge)
5.4 Handling Conflicts in Collaborative Projects
5.4.1 Identifying Conflicts
5.4.2 Resolving Conflicts Locally
5.4.3 Pushing Conflict Resolutions
5.5 Forking and Contributing to Open Source
5.5.1 Forking a Repository
5.5.2 Cloning Your Fork
5.5.3 Syncing Your Fork with the Original Repository
5.5.4 Creating a Pull Request from Your Fork

Chapter 6: Advanced Git Concepts and Commands
6.1 Undoing Changes
6.1.1 Amending Commits (git commit --amend)
6.1.2 Reverting Commits (git revert)
6.1.3 Resetting Commits (git reset --soft, --mixed, --hard)
6.1.4 Recovering Lost Commits (git reflog)
6.2 Working with Tags
6.2.1 Creating Tags (git tag)
6.2.2 Pushing Tags
6.2.3 Checking Out Tags
6.3 Stashing Changes (git stash)
6.3.1 Saving Uncommitted Changes
6.3.2 Applying and Dropping Stashes
6.3.3 Stashing Specific Files
6.4 Exploring Git History
6.4.1 Advanced git log Options
6.4.2 Comparing Changes (git diff)
6.4.3 Blaming Lines (git blame)
6.5 Git Hooks (Introduction)
6.5.1 Client-Side Hooks
6.5.2 Server-Side Hooks (Briefly)

Chapter 7: Automating Workflows with GitHub
7.1 Introduction to GitHub Actions
7.1.1 What are GitHub Actions?
7.1.2 Core Concepts (Workflows, Events, Jobs, Steps, Runners)
7.2 Creating Your First Workflow
7.2.1 Workflow Syntax (YAML)
7.2.2 Setting up a Simple CI Workflow (e.g., running tests)
7.3 Continuous Integration (CI)
7.3.1 Automating Builds and Tests on Push/Pull Request
7.3.2 Status Checks and Branch Protection
7.4 Continuous Deployment (CD) (Introduction)
7.4.1 Deploying to Different Environments
7.4.2 Using Secrets
7.5 Other Automation Possibilities
7.5.1 Linting and Formatting Checks
7.5.2 Auto-labeling Issues/PRs
7.5.3 Sending Notifications

Chapter 8: Managing Permissions, Security, and Repository Settings
8.1 Repository Visibility (Public, Private, Internal)
8.2 Collaborator Permissions
8.2.1 Roles: Read, Triage, Write, Maintain, Admin
8.2.2 Team Permissions
8.3 Branch Protection Rules
8.3.1 Requiring Pull Request Reviews
8.3.2 Requiring Status Checks to Pass
8.3.3 Requiring Signed Commits
8.3.4 Restricting Pushing
8.4 Introduction to Repository Security Features
8.4.1 Dependabot (Alerts, Security Updates)
8.4.2 Code Scanning (CodeQL)
8.4.3 Secret Scanning
8.5 Managing Repository Settings
8.5.1 General Settings (Name, Description, Topics)
8.5.2 Managing Branches, Tags, and Releases
8.5.3 Webhooks

Chapter 9: Best Practices for Professional Git and GitHub Usage
9.1 Crafting Excellent Commit Messages
9.1.1 The Seven Rules of a Great Commit Message
9.1.2 Why Good Messages Matter
9.2 Strategies for Structuring Repositories
9.2.1 Monorepos vs. Polyrepos (Briefly)
9.2.2 Organizing Files and Folders
9.3 Branching Strategies Revisited (Deep Dive)
9.3.1 Feature Branch Workflow Implementation
9.3.2 Understanding Gitflow
9.4 Code Review Best Practices
9.4.1 For the Reviewer
9.4.2 For the Author
9.5 Managing Large Repositories (Introduction)
9.5.1 Git Large File Storage (LFS)
9.6 Backup and Recovery Strategies
9.6.1 Why Backups are Important
9.6.2 Methods for Backing up Git Repositories

Chapter 10: Troubleshooting Common Issues and Debugging
10.1 Common Git Errors Explained and Resolved
10.1.1 "fatal: not a git repository"
10.1.2 "Everything up-to-date"
10.1.3 "Merge conflict" (Revisited)
10.1.4 "Permission denied (publickey)"
10.1.5 "Divergent branches"
10.1.6 Issues with git push or git pull
10.2 Using Git's Debugging Tools
10.2.1 git status
10.2.2 git log (Finding specific commits)
10.2.3 git diff (Comparing different states)
10.2.4 git blame (Finding who changed what)
10.2.5 git reflog (Finding lost commits/states)
10.3 Seeking Help (Stack Overflow, GitHub Community)

Appendix A: Glossary of Git and GitHub Terms
Appendix B: Useful Git Commands Reference
Appendix C: Setting up SSH Keys for GitHub
Appendix D: Further Resources (Books, Tutorials, Documentation)