Getting Started with GitHub

Register an educational GitHub account if you qualify, and a regular account otherwise
- A GitHub educational account gives you five private repositories for free
- Public repositories are always free
Upload a photo of your self to Gravatar if you're comfortable with that

GitHub Documentation

GitHub has great documentation on both git and GitHub.

Configure your name and email address if you haven't already.

Open a terminal and run…

git config --global user.name "Your Name Here"
git config --global user.email "your_email@example.com"

On a Mac, also run…

git config --global credential.helper osxkeychain

GitHub has more detailed instructions on setting up git.

Open GitHub in your web browser
Create a new repository
- Enter a name and description
- Check Initialize this repository with a README
- Click Create repository
Copy the repository URL of your project to the clipboard by clicking the Copy to clipboard icon next to HTTPS clone URL on the right-hand side of the project page
Open RStudio
Create a new project
- Click File -> New Project -> Version Control -> Git
- Paste the repository URL from the clipboard into Repository URL
- Click Create Project
Stage the files .gitignore and project.Rproj
Commit these files and push them to GitHub
- Click Commit
- Click Pull and it should respond Already up to date
- Enter a log message and click Commit
- Click Push
- Get in the habit of always clicking Pull before commit
- It will prevent conflicts and save you grief
Reload this repository in your web browser and look for these two files
Edit README.md and add an informative title and description
Commit README.md
Push this commit to GitHub (remember to pull first!)
Reload this repository in your web browser and appreciate your beautifully rendered README.md

Open GitHub in your web browser
Create a new repository
- Give the repository the same name as your RStudio project
- Do not check Initialize this repository with a README
- Click Create Project
Copy the two lines of code from the box labeled Push an existing repository from the command line
Open an existing project in RStudio
- Look for the Git tab to ensure it's already using git
Open a shell by clicking Tools -> Shell

Paste the two lines of code that you copied into the shell

git remote add origin https://github.com/USERNAME/PROJECT.git
git push -u origin master

Reload this repository in your web browser and browse through your handiwork
- Click on individual files to see their content
- Click on commits to see your history of commits
Push your project to GitHub
- Click More -> Push Branch
Edit README.md and commit the change
- Remember the mantra: pull, commit, push
Reload this repository in your web browser and look for your recent change
In your GitHub web browser, edit the file README.md
- Click on README.md
- Click Edit and make a change
- Click Commit changes
In RStudio, pull this change from GitHub
- Click More -> Pull Branches
- Look for your recent change in RStudio

Learning to use git at the command line is a useful skill to get yourself out of sticky situations involving conflicts and merges.

tryGit is a fantastic interactive tutorial for learning to use git at the command line.