{"id":188,"date":"2025-09-03T17:56:47","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T22:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sts.doit.wisc.edu\/training-materials\/?post_type=manual&#038;p=188"},"modified":"2026-08-13T18:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T23:38:14","slug":"git-and-github","status":"publish","type":"manual","link":"https:\/\/sts.doit.wisc.edu\/training-materials\/manual\/git-and-github\/","title":{"rendered":"GitHub: Git and GitHub for Beginners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"wp-block-sts-block-sts-custom-sections\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">About this Workshop<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This manual provides an introduction to the popular version control system <strong>git<\/strong> and the popular file repository storage platform GitHub.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-sts-block-sts-custom-sections\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Log into your GitHub Account<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>If you<strong> already have a GitHub account, <\/strong>sign into your GitHub account at <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/login\"><strong>https:\/\/github.com\/login<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you<strong> don\u2019t yet have a GitHub account<\/strong>, you can create one at <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/signup\"><strong>https:\/\/github.com\/signup<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>After logging in, open the <strong>GitHub Desktop<\/strong> app on your laptop and log in using your new\/existing GitHub account. If you need to download the GitHub Desktop app, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/desktop.github.com\/download\/\"><strong>https:\/\/desktop.github.com\/download\/<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-sts-block-sts-custom-sections\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">GitHub Desktop vs. Command Line<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why would a person want to use GitHub Desktop?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Git:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Frequently used via a <strong>command-line interface (CLI)<\/strong> in a terminal program such as Powershell (Windows) or Terminal (MacOS).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>git via CLI can be confusing<\/strong> and intimidating for people who aren\u2019t familiar with the terminal<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">GitHub Desktop:&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Provides the most <strong>frequently used features and functions of git<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Interface is more intuitive and <strong>easier to use for many people.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Don\u2019t need to remember syntax and parameters<\/strong> for many different commands<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>See which files<\/strong><strong>have been added, removed, or changed <\/strong>since the last commit, at a glance<\/p>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uw_seo_meta_title":"","_uw_seo_meta_description":"","_uw_seo_twitter_card_type":"summary_large_image","_uw_seo_meta_image":"","_uw_seo_meta_image_url":"","_uw_seo_meta_image_sizes":[],"_uw_seo_custom_meta_tags":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"class_list":["post-188","manual","type-manual","status-publish","hentry","category-coding-and-data"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sts.doit.wisc.edu\/training-materials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual\/188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sts.doit.wisc.edu\/training-materials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sts.doit.wisc.edu\/training-materials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/manual"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sts.doit.wisc.edu\/training-materials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sts.doit.wisc.edu\/training-materials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual\/188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":995,"href":"https:\/\/sts.doit.wisc.edu\/training-materials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual\/188\/revisions\/995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sts.doit.wisc.edu\/training-materials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sts.doit.wisc.edu\/training-materials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}