Skip to content

What is GitHub?

Previously, we learned that Git is an open source version control tool that tracks changes to files. So, what is GitHub? Are they the same thing?

No.

GitHub is a platform for hosting and collaborating on code. Git is the core technology that GitHub is built on top of.

Info

To best use GitHub, you'll need to set up Git. Git is responsible for everything GitHub-related that happens locally on your computer. To effectively collaborate on GitHub, you'll write in issues and pull requests using GitHub Flavored Markdown.

  • GitHub Docs

GitHub offers three types of accounts:

  • Personal accounts
  • Organization accounts
  • Enterprise accounts

At the very least, you will need to create a free personal account to create a repository or collaborate with others on a project.

You can interact with GitHub via its website or GitHub Desktop.

What is a repository?

A repository is the most basic element of GitHub. A repository is like the "folder" of a project: it contains all of the files of a project, its documentation, and its revision history. Repositories can be public or private, and can host multiple collaborators.


Sources