Computer Science Basics for Beginners

🌐 Introduction to Git & Open Source

In modern software development, collaboration is key. Git is a powerful tool that tracks code changes and enables team collaboration. Open Source allows developers to share their work with the world. This chapter introduces both.

🔁 What is Git?

Git is a version control system (VCS). It helps you track code changes, go back to previous versions, and collaborate with others without overwriting their work.

• Track and save changes in code (like a backup)
• Revert to older versions when needed
• Merge changes from multiple contributors

🧪 Basic Git Workflow

1. Initialize a Git repository: git init
2. Add files to track: git add file.py
3. Commit changes: git commit -m "Added feature"
4. Check status: git status
5. View history: git log

🌍 What is Open Source?

Open source means the source code of a project is publicly available for anyone to view, use, modify, and share. It's a great way to learn and contribute to real-world projects.

• Free to use and contribute
• Often built by communities of developers
• Popular examples: Linux, Firefox, VS Code

🔧 Common Git Commands

# Create a repo
git init

# Check status
git status

# Stage files
git add .

# Commit
git commit -m "Your message"

# Connect to GitHub
git remote add origin https://github.com/user/repo.git

# Push code
git push -u origin main
  

🚀 GitHub: A Platform for Open Source

GitHub is the most popular platform to host Git repositories. You can publish your projects, contribute to others, track issues, and collaborate globally.

• Host your own repositories
• Fork and clone others' projects
• Open issues, create pull requests

🧠 Real-Life Analogy

Git is like Google Docs for code: you can track who made what change, restore previous versions, and collaborate on the same file without clashing.

📝 Practice Questions

1. What is the purpose of Git in software development?
2. List 3 commonly used Git commands.
3. What is Open Source? Give 2 examples of open source projects.
4. What does git add . do?

✅ Coming Next

In the next chapter, we’ll learn about Variables & Memory Mapping — the core of data handling and logic building in programming.