Also you when talking about Git and GitHub have unclear ideas? In that case don’t worry, because it’s a problem much more common than you imagine and that you can solve definitively reading this article!
For those entering the world of informatics and internet, there are many things that create confusion. New technologies, new companies, new programs, new trends and new slang that are born and die continuously. This particular aspect obviously can generate many misunderstandings. Most of these are caused by similar names, similar functionalities or names that remind something else than what they refer to.
Then there is the vast world of given names, where we can say that there isn’t much fantasy or creativity! Indeed, in most cases, it’s just additions (prefixes or suffixes) to original names. Easy to understand that they have something in common, less easy to understand what they have in common. And the most surprising aspect is precisely that sometimes they have nothing in common at all!
For this reason, there is a lot of confusion between Git and GitHub to the point that they are erroneously swapped as analogous terms. In fact, although they may seem to refer to something similar, they are not exactly the same thing. Rather, they refer to related tools that are usually used together but are not interchangeable.
So in this article, we will try to distinguish between Git and GitHub, understand what they do, and understand when to use one over the other.
Table of contents
What is Git?
Git, which means “idiot” in British slang, is a terminal-based (that needs to be installed on your computer) program for doing the versioning of code and files of a project. This means that it can save a “version” (commit) of the project for every “moment” (timestamp) of the project itself.
For this reason, it is possible to travel through the project history without losing subsequent changes or recovering an old version of this or that file without major problems. It also allows for identifying the author of the changes and “signing” the changes so that it is always possible to trace back to the author of those changes.
The Git program also allows for “branches” (branch) of the project where one can experiment without touching the main branch, thus keeping at least one stable version of the project while testing new features.
This allows for multiple people to work on multiple parts of the project without conflicting with the authors of the changes.
Git also allows managing all of this across multiple computers using a server to host the code with git. This enables people from anywhere on the internet to access and contribute without issues of overwriting changes. However, this requires a second software, installed and managed on one (or more) server. And here comes GitHub.
Git in brief
Git is a program. It allows you to go back to previous changes and track code and file modifications.
What is GitHub?
GitHub, whose name derives from Git (the program on which it is based) and Hub (aggregator, collector in English), is a website where code managed by Git is hosted. And it has a whole range of utilities that allow for improving the publication and development of code with a team.
For example, it allows for issue reporting systems, feedback and discussion collection for development, and tools to plan future developments. All this information is saved and kept until explicit deletion by the project administrators.
Altro strumento essenziale è il sistema di “gruppi di progetto” che permette di gestire gruppi di progetti sotto un nome unico e con un sistema di permessi per il gruppo o il singolo progetto.
Has also a whole series of tools for automating a whole series of operations necessary both for smaller teams, allowing to focus the few resources on really useful tasks, and for larger teams, allowing to better coordinate the team itself.
GitHub in brief
GitHub is a site. Hosts git projects. Has tools to discuss projects, share them and work in Team.
Integrate GitHub with Git
For however powerful the two systems are individually, the combined use of both allows for “miracles” and provides the best of both tools.
The possibility of sharing your code with a limited or extended team to solve bugs or advance a development plan knowing that the code won’t have issues of overlap or synchronization errors allows you to work better.
It is also possible to see the code of others and, based on the usage licenses of the projects, it can be integrated into your own project or provide those necessary inspirations to solve your own problems.
This allows for a single point where all programmers find the code they need and can publish increasingly updated codes.
The difference Git and GitHub in brief
Git is the tool for project versioning while GitHub is the tool for managing projects and teams.
You still have doubts about the differences between Git and GitHub? Let’s look at an example of a WordPress site and discover what we can take from GitHub.
Git and GitHub: here’s a practical example
We have our WordPress site that is composed of various parts:
- Theme of the site, which contains all the necessary code to properly display the site and includes all graphical parts of the project
- Plugins that alternate or add the site’s features to achieve our goals simply by limiting effort and errors
- WordPress itself, that is, the site engine that commands everything and is the heart of the project
- Database or where the site data are located: users, configurations, articles, pages
Database apart (that has your specific data), you can find all these elements on GitHub as projects and they are editable through Git.
Many WordPress plugins have repositories on GitHub that allow you to see the code and report bugs. The same is done for many themes.
This allows us to find everything we need to build, maintain and back up a WordPress site. Obviously if one knows what and how to do it the task becomes extremely easy.
So do I need to learn how to use Git and GitHub?
Risposta breve: no, se non li conosci davvero fino in fondo. Git e GitHub sono due strumenti molto potenti, molto efficaci ma complessi e non adatti a tutti. Se senti l’esigenza di utilizzare GitHub o lanciare un comando Git, probabilmente ti stai occupando di un lavoro tecnico e molto delicato.
Serve quindi appoggiarsi a uno o più esperti che sappiano aiutarti a risolvere i problemi che incontri nel tuo cammino di sviluppo e gestione del sito, per non perdere tempo ed essere sicuro che il task venga risolto nel migliore dei modi.
So no, you don’t need to learn how to use Git and GitHub, but it turns out to be very important that you understand what they are for and know when to rely on the technicians and have an idea of the tools they will use to solve your problems.
This will allow you to deal with the most urgent issues, such as progressing with your site (content, article writing, customer feedback management, e-commerce management, socials management, etc…) leaving the technical aspects to a team of experts such as website development, theme selection, plugin choice, and testing of the choices made for to avoid problems and ensure that the task is carried out correctly.
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