Software Development 101: A Crash Course to Version Control with Git and Github

This article was co-authored by Nicole Marie Eduliantes Ever tried sending code to your groupmates via Messenger? Or maybe even Discord? Yep… we’ve been there. And trust us, it was not pretty. Writing code on your own is a breeze. Open your text editor, fire up Python, C, C++, or even whip up a quick webpage with HTML and CSS — easy peasy. But once you start working with others… that’s the exciting part. (Can you feel the sarcasm through the screen?) Every CS first-year knows the classic horror story: your program works perfectly on your computer, but the moment your groupmates compile it… suddenly your debugger looks like a crime scene. Ask any freshie — they’ve all been through it. After surviving the tragedy that was our CMSC 18 final project, we decided to save others from the same fate. That’s why we created this step-by-step guide for anyone — CS freshie or not — who’s ever faced the terror of group coding. This guide is beginner-friendly and covers all the essentials of version