commit

Commit-ing is the process by which, in Git, we record that we have made a change to the code (or other files) in the repository. A commit is a timestamped change which if we need to we can navigate back to and undo (and we often need to do this!).

It is up to you how often you commit but I would suggest do it often. You can navigate to the Git window in RStudio, select the files you wish to “stage” (ready for a commit) and then review and make the commit. It is useful to name the commit something informative - so for example if you added a READme file you could call the Commit “Added READme”. This will help you in the future if you need to go back and solve a bug in the code that was introduced at a certain stage. It helps you navigate the changes in versions.

Pull and Push

PushmePullyou

The joke has been made by better people than me that Dr Dolittle was ahead of his time when it comes to Git commands. Push and Pull are the two most important (well used) commands. Pull allows you to pull down any changes from the repositoty. Push pushes up your changes to the repository.

As a habit you should Pull before you Push to make sure your version locally is the same as the repository.