Set Up a GitHub Repository

The majority of the work you produce this semester will be submitted via a GitHub repository which you will create.

Github is an implementation of Git, which is a version control system designed to help you keep track of files (especially code) which are likely to be updated often. GitHub has some features similar to Dropbox or Box, but with far more emphasis on versioning your work and tracking changes.

Within our class, we’ll use GitHub as a location where you’ll store work outputs which you will receive feedback on. Early on in the class, you’ll manually push files to your GitHub repository. As we move forward in class, you’ll learn how GitHub is integrated with R, and you can learn how to use R to interact directly with GitHub.

GitHub offers some services for free, however, as a student at an educational institution, you can register via GitHub for Education to recieve enhanced benefits and services.

Let’s get this set up:

1. If you do not already have a GitHub account, go to GitHub.com and then click on Sign Up to create a new account. You will make a username (see some sage username advice here), enter your email address, and password, and then hit create account. I recommend using your UIUC email address for this step if you’re creating a new account (for my rationale, see the next step).
2. GitHub offers some services for free which you can access with your basic account, however, as a student at an educational institution, you can register with GitHub Education to receive enhanced benefits and services. You will be asked to verify your association with an academic institution, which you can do by entering your [netid]@illinois.edu email address and taking a picture of your I-Card.
3. Use the above information to register your GitHub repository for our class.

After everyone in the class has registered their Github usernames, you will be invited to our class organization (an area where we can all collaborate). You will then recieve invitations to individual repositories for your assignments. Initially, you can upload assignment files directly using Github’s web interface. Later in the class, we’ll learn how to upload files directly through RStudio.