2. Repositories¶
A repository is a place where you can store and manage your code. It’s like a digital folder where you put all the files related to a specific project, and share them with others, if you want to.
One crucial thing that makes a repository different from a traditional folder is that it employs version control, an automated technique for tracking changes to files over time. Version control allows you to carefully manage edits and roll back to previous iterations if something goes wrong. That’s important in computer programming because code is so brittle; A single typo can crash an entire site.
Version control is also useful when working with others because it allows you to see who made changes to the code, and when. It also helps you avoid conflicts when multiple people are working on the same files.
GitHub is, in essence, a social network centered on code repositories. It is built on top of a system called Git, one of several popular version control programs. Currently owned by Microsoft, GitHub is the most popular service of this sort. One key to its success is that it offers free hosting for projects that are open to the public.
The moneyinpolitics.wtf website is controlled by a GitHub repository maintained by Ben Welsh, who goes by the handle palewire. It can be found at github.com/palewire/moneyinpolitics.wtf. You should open its respository in a new tab before you continue. If you don’t have a GitHub account already, make one now.