Pre-requisities
Git
Download Git from the Git website downloads page. Click the “Download for…” button in the monitor image and this will download the install script.
The install script asks lots of questions, but you’re generally fine to accept the defaults on all of these. The main one to watch out for is the default text editor, which Git sets to Vim. We strongly recommend changing this to Notepad or Notepad++ as Vim is very user-unfriendly for the average user.
GitHub
You’ll need a GitHub account to work through the examples used with our git-academy-sandbox repository.
You’ll then need to e-mail us with your GitHub username and ask to be added to the Git Academy users team on dfe-analytical services.
Running Git commands
There are a few options for running Git commands once you’ve installed Git. The panels below give the most commonly used options that we recommend for working through Git Academy.
Git BASH is a terminal prompt that you can use to run Git commands. It comes with Git, so you’ll have it as soon as you’ve installed Git. It gives you access to all Git commands as well as other system commands (such as creating files, navigating through your folders, making directories, removing files and many, many other things).
If writing commands into a terminal isn’t your thing, then a good (language-agnostic) alternative to Git BASH is to use the GitHub Desktop application. This can be downloaded from GitHub and provides access to a wide range of Git commands, whilst providing user-friendly views of the tracking status and changes of your files.
Most modern IDEs (e.g. VS Code, R-Studio, PyCharm) provide some level of Git integration. IDEs often offer a more limited range of Git commands than Git BASH and GitHub Desktop, but work well for basic Git workflows (such as cloning, tracking changes, creating branches and syncing with your remote repository) and provide enough functionality to follow most of Git Academy without you needing to resort to typing commands into Git BASH.
There is no single preferred option for running Git commands. Whichever option you find works best for you is fine to use, whether it’s command line based or a graphical user interface. Some will offer additional functionality, but all shuould provide enough functionality for day-to-day tasks.
Text editor or IDE
We’ve tried to keep Git Academy software-agnostic as much as possible, so you should be able to work through most of the material using any text editor or IDE. The main files you’ll need to edit will contain markdown, which you can edit in any of the following (some of which also provide Git integration).
Windows Notepad and Notepad++ are good to use if you don’t have a preferred language that you’d usually work in such as R or Python. There’s no Git integration though, so you’ll need to use Git BASH or GitHub Desktop to run Git commands.
VS Code is a flexible IDE usable with a range of languages and is available for use on DfE systems on request. It provides Git integration along with markdown file rendering (shortcut: Ctrl+K V), so is a great option for working through Git Academy.
R-Studio is an R IDE and is available from the DfE Software Centre in Windows. It provides Git integration along with markdown file rendering, so is a great option for working through Git Academy.
PyCharm Community Edition is a Python IDE and is available from the DfE Software Centre. It provides Git integration along with markdown file rendering, so is a great option for working through Git Academy.