I use Github but every time I do something it feels like I’m going to break the whole project. Looking at this map, I realize I basically know nothing.
Where did all you guys learn how to use GitHub?
Where did all you guys learn how to use GitHub?
I learnt how to use Git by picking up the basics, then whenever I needed to do anything new or whenever something didn’t make sense, I read about how that part of Git worked. Also, I read the Pro Git book, which is free and linked to from the Git homepage. If all you ever do is look for a quick fix or use a cheat sheet when something doesn’t make sense, you’re the “One year of experience ten times” developer, so try not to do that.
Learning how GitHub works after you understand Git is easy.
Manpages available on your local system, or they're online here:
https://git-scm.com/docs/gittutorial
Jokes aside, there is a wealth of literature on how to understand git from the ground up. I strongly recommend reading through one of those. I can't recommend anything in particular, but I'm sure someone else will chime in with their favourite.
Since you asked, I just published Head First Git. I did a "Show HN" that didn't get much traction, but rather than repeating what I said there, I'll just post the link—https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30072348
[end shameless plug]
And to the point many others made, there are a _lot_ of resources out there, but if you are looking to start back at the basics, I feel my book (which is designed for beginners) might be a good start.
Of course there is the canonical Pro Git (https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2) book.
And once you understand the _Directed Acyclic Graph_ I feel https://github.com/git-school/visualizing-git is a great project to see what happens when you run certain operations in Git.
Perhaps you've concluded that I love Git, and I love teaching it—I am @looselytyped on Twitter (DMs are open) if you want to reach out and we can carry out a conversation elsewhere—always willing to talk Git.
Edit—I replied to the wrong comment. My apologies kqr. This was meant for VeninVidiaVicii.
The way I built an understanding of git was to create a local git repo, and start working with some plain text files. I tried the various commands - add, commit, branch, merge, and observed what happened to each file. Take this a step further and start working with a remote - you can use github.
This is how I built a mental model of what git and its commands do.