Udacity How to use Git and GitHub Review

How to use Git andGitHub is a 3-week introductory course offered by Udacity covering the basics of the Git version control system. As a short course with only 3 lessons, it focuses on the giving students a solid grounding in the basics of Git and doesn't stray too far into any advanced topics. Lesson 1 covers version control in general, checking differences between files, commits, cloning, git log and getting Git set up on your computer. Lesson 2 covers basics of repositories, branches, merging and merge conflicts. Lesson 3 introduces GitHub and related commands and considerations including remotes, pushing, pulling, forking and issues that may arise due to collaboration.



How to use Git and GitHub does exactly what a short intro level course should do: stay focused on covering the basics in detail without taking diversions into esoteric features that are likely to confuse students and distract them from forming foundation knowledge. Sarah and Caroline do a good job explaining things at a level and pace appropriate for an intro course. The course has a bit more reading embedded in the video playlist than most Udacity courses. Also, many of the quizzes require you to run commands on your computer and copy and paste output back into Udacity, which can be a bit troublesome. It would be nice if they had an interactive Git environment similar to Code School's Git course allowing you to do everything you need to do right in the browser. Still, How to Git and GitHub is a great place to start if you are learning about Git for the first time.


I give this course 4.5 out of 5 stars: Great.