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Introduction
Most often Git is mistaken for GitHub by developers and server designers, and vice-versa, the two terms are distinct and have an extensively broad meaning. Although the purpose of both Git vs GitHub is collaboration, there is a wide chain of differences between the two.
First, let’s understand the meaning of Git vs GitHub and their implications individually, then, we shall discuss their difference on various bases to get more clarity on Java Git and GitHub.
What is Git?
Git is an essential part of programming, especially if you are working as a team, and is one of the most widespread collaborative tools. Every developer needs a version control system for getting his work aligned in chronological order.
It is a very essential tool for Source Code Management, Git enables numerous people to work concurrently and track the individual contribution made by them. The UI is so user-friendly and elementary that people other than programmers also use it for tracking down their files.
Characteristics of Git
Here are the key characteristics of Git:
Distributed: Each user has a full copy of the repository, allowing for decentralized collaboration and offline work
Version Control: Tracks changes at the file level and makes branching, merging, and rollbacks simple
Commit-Based: Modifications are kept in commits, which produce a timeline of changes
Branching and Merging: Encourages the creation of solitary development branches for distinct projects that may subsequently be merged back into the main branch
Lightweight and Fast: Git's design stresses lightweight and quick operations like branching, merging, and committing
Data Integrity: Prevents corruption by ensuring data integrity using cryptographic hashes
What is GitHub?
GitHub is a Microsoft-developed programme that provides a platform for collaborative work or group projects. Generally in the software development community around five to ten people work on the same project.
An application that has got ten screens, has around thirty to fifty files of codes, which is impossible to share through e-mail or other sharing resources.
With the help of GitHub, developers can easily upload their code to their GitHub account and share the link with their peers, so that the peers may review their code or append some modules to their code.
GitHub comes with one-lined Git commands to move (push) your code from a local repository to a remote repository or to grab (pull) someone’s collective code from a remote repository. Git has a “remote” command to deal with remote repositories.
All the operations such as checking out into a new branch, creating a new branch, adding codes, and making commits. Everything is carried out with the help of these Git commands.
Being a Software developer or collaborator, you must distinctly understand the difference between the two widely used terminologies: “Git” and “GitHub”.
After reading the above-mentioned individual introductions, you must now go through the head-to-head comparison between the two through the difference table given below for attaining more clarity.
Characteristics of GitHub
Here are the key characteristics of GitHub:
Hosting of Code: GitHub acts as a cloud-based code repository. Users can upload their local Git repositories to the cloud in this way, creating a central repository for storing and collaborating on code
Collaboration: GitHub makes it easier for developers to work together by giving them access to tools for code review, issue tracking, and pull requests. It makes it possible for several contributors to work on the same project at once
Forking: Users can fork (make their own copy of) a repository. This gives individuals the freedom to alter things on their own without damaging the initial project. After making modifications, they can submit a pull request to ask for the changes to be merged back into the main project
Pull Requests: A pull request is a request to merge modifications from a forked repository back into the original repository
Only a handful of tool configuration features are available
Abundant tool configuration features are available.
Language used
Written in C, Shell, Perl, Tcl and, Python
Written in Python
Developer
Developed by Linux Torvalds
Developed by Jesper Noehr
Subscription
All the features are absolutely free
Provides a set of paid features also
Common Competitors
IBM, Subversion, Mercurial, ClearCase and Rational Team Concert
Atlassian Bitbucket and GitLab
Which is Better Git or GitHub?
Git and GitHub serve different purposes and are not directly comparable.
Git is a version control system, a tool that tracks changes in your code and allows multiple people to collaborate on a project. It provides features like branching, merging, and history tracking.
GitHub is a web-based platform that uses Git for version control. It adds a graphical interface, collaboration tools, and a centralized repository hosting service. GitHub enhances Git's capabilities with features like issue tracking, pull requests, code review, and project management tools.
How to Integrate Git and GitHub in Five Steps?
You need to follow a series of steps in order to work with Git vs GitHub parallel for collaboration and version control. You need to understand that Git can be used for working efficiently with GitHub, therefore, you need to brush up your skills with the former prior to their integration.
Please note that if you are already familiar with Git and it is pre-installed, then you can move to step two, else if you are new to this version control software you require to install it and add a few blocks of code before going forward.
Step 1: Install git and add a repository to it
First of all, download the git software for your Operating System (OS). Post this you have to run the installer. This process might vary depending on your Operating System. Finally, set up git using the command-line interface.
You need to understand a few terms before you start using Git:
Repository: The location of the file where your project is stored.
Commit: The command used to save new changes made to your project in the repository.
Stage: Prior to committing changes in Git, you have to stage them – this provides the opportunity to prepare your code before officially including it in your project.
Branch: The part of your project you’re currently working on.
For connecting git to GitHub, you have to add a repository and commit at least once. You can then host your project on GitHub and make it public.
Step 2: Creating a GitHub account
Now you require a GitHub account. You can sign up for free or you can go for a paid subscription plan. A free account provides all the base features required by a beginner for efficient code sharing. A paid plan is recommended for freelancers and highly skilled coders, or organisations that have to invest in a team plan for accessing additional project management and communication tools. Furthermore, GitHub extends a few discounts for non-profitable organisations, educators, and students.
Step 3: Adding a GitHub repository to your account
After creating and setting up your account, you are required to create a repository in GitHub for storing your project when you push it from git.
You can create a repository by clicking on the relevant link in the left-hand sidebar.
Then choose a name for your repository.
You even have two options for modifying the access of the repository, it can be private, such that other GitHub users can refer to it and contribute to it, or it can be made private.
In both ways, as you’ll be using a pre-existing project, ensure that you leave the Initialize this repository with a README box unchecked.
Step 4: Pushing a repository to GitHub
You can add source code to your repository in multiple ways.
If the GitHub repository is already set then you can easily push an existing repository from the command line option.
The clipboard icon on the right allows you to copy the commands listed below, so that you may quickly paste them into your preferred command-line interface for creating a GitHub repository. After this refresh your GitHub page.
You can now view your repository in GitHub. From here, you can start making alterations to your project in real-time. You can even send and receive merge or pull requests, and use all the tools included with your plan.
Step 5: Pulling the changes made to your repository
You can view any change that you and others make to your project on GitHub, it doesn’t have direct access to your local storage. For keeping your project updated in your local storage, you can pull your updates via git.
For doing so, enter the git pull origin master in the command-line interface. This will update your files such that everything is synchronised across all iterations of your repository.
Both Git and GitHub Handle Commands Differently
While Git and GitHub are closely related, it's important to understand that they handle commands differently since they serve distinct purposes.
Git Commands:
Git provides a command-line interface that allows you to interact with your local Git repository. Here are some common Git commands.
git init: Initializes a new Git repository in your project directory.
git add: Stages changes or new files to be committed.
git commit: Creates a new snapshot of the code changes with a descriptive message.
git branch: Lists or creates branches within the repository.
git merge: Integrates changes from one branch into another.
git push: Pushes your local commits to a remote repository.
git pull: Fetches changes from a remote repository and merges them into the current branch.
GitHub Commands:
GitHub, on the other hand, is a web-based hosting service for Git repositories. While GitHub does not have its own set of commands, it provides a web interface and additional functionality that complements Git.
Here are some features and actions available on GitHub.
Repository management: You can create a new repository, clone an existing repository, or delete a repository through the GitHub web interface.
Pull requests: You can create a pull request to propose changes from one branch or fork to another. It allows others to review, comment, and merge the changes.
Issue tracking: GitHub provides an issue tracking system where you can create, assign and track issues related to your project.
Collaboration: GitHub allows multiple developers to work on a project simultaneously. You can invite collaborators, manage access permissions, and handle conflicts when merging changes.
Git and GitHub handle commands differently. Git is a local command-line tool that operates on your computer, providing a wide range of commands for version control operations. On the other hand, GitHub is a web-based platform that complements Git by offering a graphical interface and additional collaboration features
Yes, Git can be used independently for local version control without relying on GitHub or any other remote repository hosting service.
What are Git and GitHub used for?
Git is a version control system for tracking code changes. GitHub is a web-based platform using Git for collaboration and code hosting.
Should I start with Git or GitHub?
Begin with Git to understand version control basics. Then, integrate GitHub for remote collaboration and hosting code repositories.
What is the best tool for Git?
Popular Git tools include GitKraken, Sourcetree, and VS Code with Git extensions. Choose based on personal preference and project needs.
What does GitHub stand for?
A contraction of the words Git and Hub. GitHub is a Microsoft-developed program that provides a platform for collaborative work or group projects.
Conclusion
Finally, after understanding both these terms we can conclude that both Git vs GitHub go hand-in-hand to ensure efficient collaboration and version control. GitHub provides a friendly user interface for networking, while Git is used for handling version control complications.
If you are thinking of building a career in Software development you can learn about the popular Git commands, this will help you in dealing with collaborations better and you can work in a team efficiently. If you want to have a live Git experience, devise a few projects of your own.