Getting a grip on Version Control using Git!
This is the first article in a series covering my introduction to Git and how to use it in conjunction with GitHub and Unity3D.
Part 1: Installing Git
At some point in our lives, we’ve all come across situations where we’ve suffered some sort of loss of data. It may have a document we were working on, some report for school, or a personal project. We may have lost the entire document, or parts thereof by inadvertently saving files on top of one another. It truly is a miserable experience.
As I continue my journey as a game developer, I’ve come to realize that I needed to find a way to keep my work organized and protected. Such requirement spans learning how to work remotely in a collaborative manner. This is where learning how to use Git becomes necessary.
What is Git? Git is free open-sourced software designed to track changes in files and allows for multiple programmers to collaborate in a coordinated (yet independent) manner while developing source code. It allows every computer to maintain a distinct Git directory containing project repositories, each with its own history and version tracking while remaining disconnected from network or server access. Changes can later be pushed for merging into the main project file.
You begin by navigating to the following link:
Downloads are available for Windows, Mac, and Linux/Unix. In my case, I run a Mac, so the website automatically detected this and offered me the appropriate links:
You then select your desired option. In my case, I opted for the binary installer as shown below:
Once the installation is complete, use your desired GUI (in my case, I opted for the Terminal utility which comes with Mac OS), and verify that the installation was successful by typing the command “git version” in your terminal window:
In my next article, we will install GitHub and run through the exercise of creating a project repository, and manage these files on your computer using Git. See you then!
