Getting Down to Work

Local Repository and Visual Studio Code Setup

Once you have accepted an assignment from GitHub Classroom, it will appear as a repository on GitHub.

The next step is to get a copy of that repository on the server so you can work on it. We'll generally call this copy the “local” or “working” copy.

Cloning and Opening the Repository in VS Code

Getting a copy of a Git repository that you can work on is called cloning. You could do everything you'll need to using the git command-line tool (or any of a number of GUI Git clients), but Visual Studio Code has support for working with Git repos built in.

1. Go to your repository on GitHub.
2. Click the green button that says <> Code.
3. You'll see a URL; copy that URL (the easiest way is to click the button that looks like two stacked squares).
4. Open VS Code.
5. Click on the _>^< button in the lower-left corner. In the pop-up menu, select Remote-SSH: Connect to Host... and enter username@cs70.cs.hmc.edu for the host (where username is replaced with your CS 70 server username). When prompted, enter your server password.
6. On the sidebar of your VS Code window, click the “Explorer” icon (looks like two overlapping pieces of paper) or the “Source Control” icon (looks like three circles connected by two lines).
7. Click Clone Repository.
8. In the text box at the top of the window, paste the URL you copied from GitHub.
9. Now edit the path to choose a place to save the cloned repo. We recommend using the cs70 directory that is already in your home directory.
10. VS Code will download the repository and ask if you want to open the repository. Say yes!

Editing Files and Committing Changes

Open the file written-answers.md and edit it to add a new line at the end of the file:

I followed the instructions in Episode 2!

Now you have a change in your local copy of the file written-answers.md. To tell git that you have a change it should pay attention to, you will need to stage the changed file (put it on the list of files that git should include in the next commit) and then commit the staged changes to your local repository. The Source Control window in VS Code allows you to stage your changes by using the + button next to the file name. You can then add a brief comment describing the change you're committing, and then commit your changes using the ✓ (check mark) button.

Below is a video showing you the process. (Don't worry that the shell in this video doesn't look the same as yours.)

Sending Changes Back to GitHub

You can continue making changes, staging them, and committing them to your local repository, but those changes are only in your local repository unless you copy them to a remote repository—in this case, your GitHub repository for the assignment—by pushing your local changes to the repo on GitHub.

In the Source Control window in VS Code, click … ⇒ Push/Pull ⇒ Push to push the new version of the file to GitHub.

Getting Changes from GitHub

Imagine that you and your partner have been working on your project using your server account. Then, in your next work session, your partner is the one who logs into the server. Their project files are out of date, so they'll need to check for any changes that you made and pushed to your shared GitHub repo.

Getting changes from your remote repo requires you to pull changes from the remote repo into your local repo. In VS Code, you can use the … ⇒︎ Push/Pull ⇒︎ Pull command in the Source Control window.

Best practice is to always pull changes from upstream before you start working on changes of your own. Because you and your partner are pair programming, of course, you should both know what's changed, but ensuring your copy of the repo is up to date before you start to work is a good habit.

(When logged in, completion status appears here.)