git is a widely used tool for version control: in addition to storing files, a git repository stores detailed information about the history of the files. This makes it easy for many people to combine the changes they make the same file(s), and to go back earlier versions if ever you need to recover old work to fix something that has gone wrong.
The idea behind git is that you maintain a repository locally. If you
wish, you can synchronize with a remote repository server. It differs
from other SCM (source code management) systems in that there is a
staging area before committing where you add / remove items to be
committed before the actual commit. git is the command for use on your
local repository on your own computer. For windoze we recommend
https://git-for-windows.github.io/. For Linux (possibly MAC OSX) it
should be installed by default.
This lab should get you started using git for a project of your own, so if anything goes wrong you swear at yourself.
A second lab will concentrate on collaboration using git.
These instructions are in a git repo hosted on a remote server (gitlab.com/github.com). You are viewing files in the repo via a web-based use interface, but you could also download a copy of the repo to your computer.
For working on this repo: