What do you think?
Rate this book
GitHub For Dummies
Get more out of your coding with GitHub For today’s coders, GitHub is a must. The world’s largest software development platform, GitHub helps developers store, track, and collaborate on software projects. In this easy-to-follow Dummies guide, you’ll find insight into creating repositories, establishing projects, collaborating, incorporating open-source resources, and establishing yourself as a valued member of the GitHub community. With a working knowledge of GitHub, you’ll be a better, more employable programmer. The simple instructions and interactive examples in this book will get you there quickly. You’ve learned how to write a little code―now learn how to share it with GitHub.
352 pages, Paperback
Published March 8, 2023
69 people are currently reading
58 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 22, 2021
Mixed feelings about this book. I expected to learn, really learn all the basic stuff (staging, committing, branching, pulling, forking, ...) and get an overview of all the features of GitHub.
The latter I got, even to the point that it was overwhelming.
The former was with ups and downs. I don't think there was one project where they stuck to a certain interface in explaining the git commands and workflow: from CLI to GitHub desktop to Atom and back. That was confusing: use one interface for the current exercise, and use another for the next exercise.
You create several projects while reading this book, but none of them guides you from start to finish. You are doing something that you find really interesting, and you're looking forward to what comes next, but the next page is a new chapter with a different topic. It feels chaotic.
I have learned new features and to use a certain workflow, but nothing that I feel comfortable to apply right now. It did answer some questions that I had about using GitHub (I am not a complete newbie), but I'm still going to have to look a lot of things up.
The latter I got, even to the point that it was overwhelming.
The former was with ups and downs. I don't think there was one project where they stuck to a certain interface in explaining the git commands and workflow: from CLI to GitHub desktop to Atom and back. That was confusing: use one interface for the current exercise, and use another for the next exercise.
You create several projects while reading this book, but none of them guides you from start to finish. You are doing something that you find really interesting, and you're looking forward to what comes next, but the next page is a new chapter with a different topic. It feels chaotic.
I have learned new features and to use a certain workflow, but nothing that I feel comfortable to apply right now. It did answer some questions that I had about using GitHub (I am not a complete newbie), but I'm still going to have to look a lot of things up.
January 6, 2023
A sprawling book that doesn't really touch much on the git element of github. It talks about lots of other applications that aren't Github though, like Atom, VS Code, Trello, Slack, popular extensions, etc.
There are a few useful bits in here, scattered throughout, but what a mess of information. They even state repeatedly that unfortunately that's out of the scope of this book—stop going down rabbit holes then!
However, I do understand Github marketplace, social elements, community, contribution guidelines better, so it wasn't a waste of time so much as not what I was really looking for. Fortunately, the book has pointed me in the direction of the learning lab.
There are a few useful bits in here, scattered throughout, but what a mess of information. They even state repeatedly that unfortunately that's out of the scope of this book—stop going down rabbit holes then!
However, I do understand Github marketplace, social elements, community, contribution guidelines better, so it wasn't a waste of time so much as not what I was really looking for. Fortunately, the book has pointed me in the direction of the learning lab.
November 16, 2024
Did I learn stuff? Yes.
Did I notice so many missing words/messed up sentence that I lost track? Also yes.
Physical copy, Rowlett Public Library.
Did I notice so many missing words/messed up sentence that I lost track? Also yes.
Physical copy, Rowlett Public Library.
October 4, 2023
This book is a fantastic introduction to GitHub. It walks you through setting up an account and learning how to use a lot of tools and features that GitHub has to offer. GitHub is a huge code repository with a lot to offer computer programmers and developers and most of it is free (you can get upgraded paid plans but you can still do a lot with a free account). This book has some technical explanations and a few simple examples that you can try out, and the examples, while basic, will be very helpful to a beginner (and may also be helpful to people with more experience). There is a lot of hand-holding in this book, which I liked.
The technical explanations will get you up and running with GitHub, Visual Studio Code (a code editor), Git (a software version control system), the Command Line terminal, and several other programming tools. The examples don’t really focus on any particular programming language but involve updating your profile (which is a repository in GitHub) and a few other simple projects that you can use to populate and change a repository. There is a very full explanation of the “pull request”, a widely used and useful feature in GitHub, up to and in chapter 8, but after that there are a lot of less technical chapters that to some may feel like padding. The author writes about things like norms in working on Open Source Software and attending conferences that were a little less focused on GitHub and a little more of an introduction to what you can expect as you grow as a programmer. I appreciated these chapters very much but they sometimes strayed from GitHub as a topic.
Overall, this is an excellent introduction to GitHub. It’s written for a very novice audience and describes a lot of functionality available at GitHub. It familiarizes the reader with the website, shows you where to find out more information, and introduces the vocabulary and culture of programming and software development, with a focus on the GitHub framework. The examples were clear and well-thought out and I didn’t have any problems with the example projects and code. This is a great place to start if you want an introduction to, or would like to learn more about, GitHub.
The technical explanations will get you up and running with GitHub, Visual Studio Code (a code editor), Git (a software version control system), the Command Line terminal, and several other programming tools. The examples don’t really focus on any particular programming language but involve updating your profile (which is a repository in GitHub) and a few other simple projects that you can use to populate and change a repository. There is a very full explanation of the “pull request”, a widely used and useful feature in GitHub, up to and in chapter 8, but after that there are a lot of less technical chapters that to some may feel like padding. The author writes about things like norms in working on Open Source Software and attending conferences that were a little less focused on GitHub and a little more of an introduction to what you can expect as you grow as a programmer. I appreciated these chapters very much but they sometimes strayed from GitHub as a topic.
Overall, this is an excellent introduction to GitHub. It’s written for a very novice audience and describes a lot of functionality available at GitHub. It familiarizes the reader with the website, shows you where to find out more information, and introduces the vocabulary and culture of programming and software development, with a focus on the GitHub framework. The examples were clear and well-thought out and I didn’t have any problems with the example projects and code. This is a great place to start if you want an introduction to, or would like to learn more about, GitHub.
August 26, 2023
Una muy buena introduccion a los principios de la plataforma de GitHub.
Recomiendo ampliamente a cualquiera que no ha tenido experiencia y quiera entender los aspectos de red social que tiene GitHub, asi como las caracteristicas de ese famoso pull request.
Ademas, fue bastante conciso en su mayoria y facil de entender. Aunque en algunas partes siento que fue muy profundo y algo confuso... y en otras no tan profundo como hubiere querido.
Sin embargo muy buen libro!
Recomiendo ampliamente a cualquiera que no ha tenido experiencia y quiera entender los aspectos de red social que tiene GitHub, asi como las caracteristicas de ese famoso pull request.
Ademas, fue bastante conciso en su mayoria y facil de entender. Aunque en algunas partes siento que fue muy profundo y algo confuso... y en otras no tan profundo como hubiere querido.
Sin embargo muy buen libro!
November 15, 2021
It was good.
A bit outdated, but I did learn a bit.
Started some new ventures on GitHub this weekend because of this book.
Been a very development-heavy learning week!
This book didn't really cover things like Gists or other customizations, but I'm doing them on my own.
Still a good introduction into things like branching, merging, pull requests, and such.
3.1/5
A bit outdated, but I did learn a bit.
Started some new ventures on GitHub this weekend because of this book.
Been a very development-heavy learning week!
This book didn't really cover things like Gists or other customizations, but I'm doing them on my own.
Still a good introduction into things like branching, merging, pull requests, and such.
3.1/5
April 4, 2022
Overall Good Manual
Lots of good hints, yet they are accompanied by very long instructions and not up-to-date locations of features on the website. It takes a long time to get through some of the chapters in a practical way, where you can get a good grasp of the material. Had to give up at some point.
Lots of good hints, yet they are accompanied by very long instructions and not up-to-date locations of features on the website. It takes a long time to get through some of the chapters in a practical way, where you can get a good grasp of the material. Had to give up at some point.
July 16, 2025
I'd like to say that this is a very informative book. I thought I knew enough about GitHub, but as I was reading this, I realized how many notes I had taken so far. I love the recommendations and next steps that the author provided. I also contributed to the book's GitHub account. Thank you so much.
May 5, 2022
A great introduction to all the other things that GitHub does.
September 6, 2019
First hals of the book was very helpful and interesting, awhile second part... i've just skipped through it...
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews