GitHub Development Workflow - Developers need to know

GitHub is a code hosting platform for version control and collaboration. It’s designed around Git, a system for tracking changes in software code. It lets you and others work together on projects from anywhere. In this article we’ll take a look at the key concepts of the GitHub development workflow. Including working with repositories, branches, forks, commits, pull requests and merging. Let’s get started!

What is version control?

Version control is a system that helps developers track and manage changes to a software projects code. As projects grow, the need for version control becomes vital — especially in a collaborative project. We can work safely by using whats known as branching and merging.

Branching allows us to duplicate our source code (aka ‘the repository’), so we can safely make changes without affecting the entire project. Once the changes have been reviewed and approval is agreed upon, we merge our branch into the master to update our official code. If any bugs are identified— we have the option to revert back to our original code, as our changes have been tracked.

What is Git?

Git and Github are not synonymous! Git is a specific open-source version control system created by Linus Torvalds in 2005. It’s the program that actually tracks your changes, and ensures the entire code-base is available on each developers computer. GitHub however, is simply hosting your repositories (as well as providing some additional functionality).

The Fundamentals

Let’s get started! If you haven’t signed up for a GitHub account, go ahead and sign up here.

Creating a Repository

A GitHub repository (or “repo”) can be thought of as the root folder for your project. It contains all your project files and gives you the ability to access each files revision history. If you’re working in a team you can give other people access to your repository for project collaboration.

Lets create our first repository! Make sure your signed in to GitHub, then:

1. In the upper-right corner, click the settings + icon & then New repository
2. Give your repository a name
3. Add a description if you like
4. Choose between creating a public or private repository (either are fine)
5. Select Initialize this repository with a README (eg. “My first repo!”)
6. Click Create repository!
7. Add files to your repository —we’re only testing so it really doesn’t matter what you add. Find an HTML file for example, and add it to your repository via the Upload files button.

Creating an Issue

Issues are how we track the tasks, enhancements, and bugs in our projects. They’re meant to be shared amongst your team to facilitate discussion for review as well as for managing task delegation. If you open an issue on a project managed by someone else, it’ll stay open until either you close it (for example if you figure out the problem) or if the repo owner closes it. When you create an issue, be sure to give a clear explanation of the task at hand. Let’s create an issue in our repository:

1. In your repository, select the Issues tab
2. Click the New Issue button
3. Give your issue the title ‘Setup GitHub pages’
4. Give a clear description e.g. ‘Need to setup GitHub Pages in this repository’
5. Click Submit new issue

Assigning an Issue

We need to assign issues so our team members know who’s job it is to handle the task!

• On the right side of the screen, under the “Assignees” section, click the settings icon and select yourself

Let’s resolve our first issue! We want to Setup GitHub pages. You can read about GitHub Pages here. But for now, our focus on completing the task:

1. Click on the Settings tab in your repository
2. Scroll down to the “GitHub Pages” section
3. From the “Source” drop down, select master branch
4. Click Save

Closing an Issue

Now you’ve completed the task — you can go ahead and close it! You can delete an issue on GitHub, however closing it tells your team members that the task has been completed. To close:

• Open up your completed issue and click Close issue

The GitHub Flow

Now that we know how to work with issues, it’s time to look at the GitHub Flow. Simply put its a workflow where we can experiment with new ideas safely, without the risk of compromising our project. This is primarily achieved through the use of branching.

GitHub Flow

By default, our project lives on the master branch — any changes to the master will update directly to our project (This can be dangerous is you haven’t properly reviewed your changes!).

When we want to experiment with a new feature, or even fix an issue, we create a new branch on the project. The branch will initially be a duplicate of your master, now when you make changes —they’ll reflect only on the branch.

While working on changes, you’ll commit the changes to your branch. When you’re satisfied that the changes are complete, its time to open a pull request. From here your team will discuss and further refine the project changes. Once the changes have been approved, the branch will be merged onto the master branch. Let’s go through an example of this process now!

Creating a Branch

1. Open your repository and click the Code tab
2. Click Branch: master in the drop-down
3. In the field, enter a name for your branch (e.g. ‘development’)
4. Click Create branch

Now that you’ve created a branch, you can modify your project without changing the deployed master branch.

A note on forks — A fork is different to a branch in that it allows you to clone another repo in your own account. It essentially allows you to start a new project based on a previous project.

Committing a file

Now we can safely work within our branch, let’s create a file and make our first commit.

1. Make an edit (anything! just add a simple comment to your code) to one of the files you had added to the repository earlier
2. Give the commit a name and description
3. Make sure your newly created (development) branch is selected
4. Click Commit changes

You’ve made your first commit! The next step is to share the changes with your team via a pull request.

Opening a Pull Request

A pull request is where we share our proposed project changes with our team — with the intent on discussing & revising them before applying the changes to the master branch.

1. Open the Pull requests tab and click New pull request
2. In the base: drop-down menu, ensure the master branch is selected
3. In the compare: drop-down menu, select the development branch you created earlier
4. Click Create pull request
5. Now enter a title for your pull request, for example “Add my changes”
6. Add an accurate description of the changes you made
7. Click Create pull request!

Your team members now have the ability to discuss and review your proposed changes. Once everyone is happy and the changes are approved— it’s time to merge to master.

Note: If you forked a repo and made changes, you can create a pull request to merge your changes from there as well.

Merging a Pull Request

1. Inside of your Pull request, click Merge pull request
2. Click Confirm merge
3. Once your branch has been merged, you don’t need it anymore. You can click Delete branch

Conclusion

And that’s it! You’ve learned how to work collaboratively on projects using GitHub. GitHub is an amazing tool to take advantage of! You can now create repositories and issues, create branches, fork projects and make commits, submit pull requests for review, and merge to the master branch. Not bad!

I hope you found this article useful!

#Github #JavaScript #Tech #Front End Development #Git

What is GEEK

Buddha Community

How long does it take to develop/build an app?

With more of us using smartphones, the popularity of mobile applications has exploded. In the digital era, the number of people looking for products and services online is growing rapidly. Smartphone owners look for mobile applications that give them quick access to companies’ products and services. As a result, mobile apps provide customers with a lot of benefits in just one device.

Likewise, companies use mobile apps to increase customer loyalty and improve their services. Mobile Developers are in high demand as companies use apps not only to create brand awareness but also to gather information. For that reason, mobile apps are used as tools to collect valuable data from customers to help companies improve their offer.

There are many types of mobile applications, each with its own advantages. For example, native apps perform better, while web apps don’t need to be customized for the platform or operating system (OS). Likewise, hybrid apps provide users with comfortable user experience. However, you may be wondering how long it takes to develop an app.

To give you an idea of how long the app development process takes, here’s a short guide.

App Idea & Research

_Average time spent: two to five weeks _

This is the initial stage and a crucial step in setting the project in the right direction. In this stage, you brainstorm ideas and select the best one. Apart from that, you’ll need to do some research to see if your idea is viable. Remember that coming up with an idea is easy; the hard part is to make it a reality.

All your ideas may seem viable, but you still have to run some tests to keep it as real as possible. For that reason, when Web Developers are building a web app, they analyze the available ideas to see which one is the best match for the targeted audience.

Targeting the right audience is crucial when you are developing an app. It saves time when shaping the app in the right direction as you have a clear set of objectives. Likewise, analyzing how the app affects the market is essential. During the research process, App Developers must gather information about potential competitors and threats. This helps the app owners develop strategies to tackle difficulties that come up after the launch.

The research process can take several weeks, but it determines how successful your app can be. For that reason, you must take your time to know all the weaknesses and strengths of the competitors, possible app strategies, and targeted audience.

The outcomes of this stage are app prototypes and the minimum feasible product.

#android app #frontend #ios app #minimum viable product (mvp) #mobile app development #web development #android app development #app development #app development for ios and android #app development process #ios and android app development #ios app development #stages in app development

Developer Career Path: To Become a Team Lead or Stay a Developer?

For a developer, becoming a team leader can be a trap or open up opportunities for creating software. Two years ago, when I was a developer, I was thinking, “I want to be a team leader. It’s so cool, he’s in charge of everything and gets more money. It’s the next step after a senior.” Back then, no one could tell me how wrong I was. I had to find it out myself.

I Got to Be a Team Leader — Twice

I’m naturally very organized. Whatever I do, I try to put things in order, create systems and processes. So I’ve always been inclined to take on more responsibilities than just coding. My first startup job, let’s call it T, was complete chaos in terms of development processes.

Now I probably wouldn’t work in a place like that, but at the time, I enjoyed the vibe. Just imagine it — numerous clients and a team leader who set tasks to the developers in person (and often privately). We would often miss deadlines and had to work late. Once, my boss called and asked me to come back to work at 8 p.m. to finish one feature — all because the deadline was “the next morning.” But at T, we were a family.

We also did everything ourselves — or at least tried to. I’ll never forget how I had to install Ubuntu on a rack server that we got from one of our investors. When I would turn it on, it sounded like a helicopter taking off!

At T, I became a CTO and managed a team of 10 people. So it was my first experience as a team leader.

Then I came to work at D — as a developer. And it was so different in every way when it came to processes.

They employed classic Scrum with sprints, burndown charts, demos, story points, planning, and backlog grooming. I was amazed by the quality of processes, but at first, I was just coding and minding my own business. Then I became friends with the Scrum master. I would ask him lots of questions, and he would willingly answer them and recommend good books.

My favorite was Scrum and XP from the Trenches by Henrik Kniberg. The process at D was based on its methods. As a result, both managers and sellers knew when to expect the result.

Then I joined Skyeng, also as a developer. Unlike my other jobs, it excels at continuous integration with features shipped every day. Within my team, we used a Kanban-like method.

We were also lucky to have our team leader, Petya. At our F2F meetings, we could discuss anything, from missing deadlines to setting up a task tracker. Sometimes I would just give feedback or he would give me advice.

That’s how Petya got to know I’d had some management experience at T and learned Scrum at D.

So one day, he offered me to host a stand-up.

#software-development #developer #dev-team-leadership #agile-software-development #web-development #mobile-app-development #ios-development #android-development

Offshore Software Development - Best Practices

With the rise of globalization and the worldwide lockdown due to the pandemic, most of the work has been done by remote working processes and professionals from their homes. This lockdown has proved the efficiency of remote development and enhanced the trust in offshore software development industry.

To make the most out of the benefits of offshore software development, you should understand the crucial factors that affect offshore development. This is why you should read this guide for the best practices when hiring an offshore software development company. Despite the size and the industry of the business, offshore software development is not beneficial for every entrepreneur in many aspects to make the optimum use of talents in technology across the globe.

Here are some of the top reasons why offshore development is beneficial for your business.

• Offshore development teams can work on flexible timing to provide you with the best possible software development practices.
• Get access to the talents across the world from your home to develop the top of the line software with the help of offshore development companies.
• Assured high quality and next-generation technology expertise with duly NDA signed with respect to the priorities of the business.
• With flexible recruitment models, you can hire the freelance developers, remote development team, or an entire offshore development company with respect to the size of your business.
• Build high-end software applications from one corner of the world by hiring software developers across the world.
• Get immediate access to the best resources without hiring them on a permanent basis.

To avail of all these benefits, you should have clear goals, a list of requirements, and features that are mandatory for your software product.

Here are a few tips to help you find the best offshore software development company. Build a top-notch software application by following the listed best practices.

#web development #how to start offshore software development company #offshore meaning #offshore software development best practices #offshore software development company #offshore software development company in india #offshore software development cost #offshore software development statistics #outsource software development

Choosing the Right Android App Development Company – What You Need to Know

The number of developers worldwide stands at a whopping 26.4+ million. Indeed, there’s no dearth of skilled and experienced developers worldwide. With outsourcing and out-staffing, it has become convenient to connect with top-notch android application development companies at an affordable budget.

However, with tons of options out there, finding the best Android app development company gets a little tricky. India has emerged as the ultimate solution when the concern is to go for the best android developers at a reasonable budget. 

But how exactly, the country has become a hotspot for android development services? How can you find the best among the top android app development companies? 

To clear your queries, here you will find the following: 

• Advantages of android app development in India

• Checklist of android app development 

• Top 13 tips to help you choose the best android development company in India.

Addressing first things first, let’s start with our first topic.

Read more here: Choosing the Right Android App Development Company – What You Need to Know

#android app development company in india #best android app development company #hireapp developers #androidsoftware developers #android app development services #android application development company

How to Compare Multiple GitHub Projects with Our GitHub Stats tool

If you have project code hosted on GitHub, chances are you might be interested in checking some numbers and stats such as stars, commits and pull requests.

You might also want to compare some similar projects in terms of the above mentioned stats, for whatever reasons that interest you.

We have the right tool for you: the simple and easy-to-use little tool called GitHub Stats.

Let’s dive right in to what we can get out of it.

Getting started

This interactive tool is really easy to use. Follow the three steps below and you’ll get what you want in real-time:

1. Head to the GitHub repo of the tool

2. Enter as many projects as you need to check on

3. Hit the Update button beside each metric

In this article we are going to compare three most popular machine learning projects for you.

#github #tools #github-statistics-react #github-stats-tool #compare-github-projects #github-projects #software-development #programming