GitHub Foundations Certification Guide
Description
- Solidify your learning using hands-on guides with real-world projects and self-assessment questions
- Prepare for the certification exam with questions, tests, and study tips
- Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook
Book DescriptionProgress from the basics of version control to excelling at collaborative development with the GitHub Foundations Certification Guide, your go-to resource for mastering Git and GitHub. You'll learn how to use Git to accurately track and manage code changes, and discover why GitHub is the leading platform for collaboration, project management, and open-source development. Written by Ayodeji Ayodele, Senior Customer Success Architect at GitHub with expertise in DevOps, Agile coaching, and software engineering, this book provides a structured path to Git/GitHub proficiency. Through hands-on tutorials, projects, and self-assessment questions, you'll harness the potential of open source, navigate the GitHub platform with ease, employ advanced Git techniques, and gain practical code management skills. The book then explores secure collaboration, automation, and key features of the GitHub Desktop app. You'll prepare for the certification exam with practice questions, mock exams, and invaluable study tips. By the end of this book, you'll be ready to take the GitHub Foundations exam and advance your developer career.What you will learn - Create and manage repositories on GitHub confidently
- Collaborate effectively using issues and pull requests
- Adopt modern development practices using advanced GitHub features
- Enhance coding speed and quality with GitHub Copilot's AI suggestions
- Streamline project management using GitHub Projects
- Leverage GitHub's capabilities to boost your career or grow your business
- Implement best practices for GitHub privacy, security, and control
Who this book is forThis book is for software developers and engineers looking to master Git and GitHub for efficient code management, project collaboration, and streamlined workflows. Infrastructure engineers and system administrators will benefit from learning how to manage scripts and track infrastructure changes. Educators and trainers can use this guide to teach software development and prepare students for industry certifications. Aspiring developers and tech professionals will find it a valuable resource for building essential GitHub skills and advancing their software development careers.
All prices
More details
Content
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Forewords
- Contributors
- Table of Contents
- Preface
- Sprint 0: Preparing for the Certification
- What is the GitHub Foundations certification?
- Target audience
- Exam structure
- Domain 1: Introduction to Git and GitHub
- Domain 2: Working with GitHub Repositories
- Domain 3: Collaboration Features
- Domain 4: Modern Development
- Domain 5: Project Management
- Domain 6: Privacy, Security, and Administration
- Domain 7: Benefits of the GitHub Community
- Question types
- Time limit
- Preparation strategies
- Study resources
- Hands-on practice
- Mock exams
- Exam registration
- Exam-day test center requirements
- Identity requirements
- Exam accommodations
- Exam-day online requirements
- System requirements
- Workspace requirements
- Identity requirements
- Top tips
- Candidate handbook
- Conclusion
- Useful links
- Part 1: Git and GitHub Essentials
- Chapter 1: Introduction to Version Control with Git
- Getting the most out of this book - get to know your free benefits
- Version control basics
- Benefits of version control
- Challenges without version control
- Examples of version control systems
- Git's dominance and popularity: why it stands out
- Overview of Git
- Git's distributed nature
- Branching and merging
- Understanding the Git concept
- Scenario 1: Committing changes on the main branch
- Scenario 2: Creating a feature branch
- Scenario 3: Fixing a bug while developing a feature
- Merging
- Cloning
- Git jargon and commands
- Git configuration files
- Lab 1: Setting up Git
- Installing Git
- Configuring user identity
- Creating a local repository
- Creating your first application source code
- Some common challenges
- Summary
- Test your knowledge
- Useful links
- Chapter 2: Navigating the GitHub Interface
- Technical requirements
- GitHub overview and offerings
- What is GitHub?
- Differences between Git and GitHub
- Beyond just developers
- Core functionalities
- Collaboration
- Productivity
- Security
- Scale
- AI and automation
- Understanding the open source concept
- Available plans and offerings
- GitHub Free
- GitHub Pro
- GitHub Team
- GitHub Enterprise
- GitHub account types
- Individual
- Organization
- Enterprise
- Lab 2.1: Familiarity with the GitHub interface
- Exploring open source repos
- Exploring the interface
- Creating your first user-scoped repository
- Creating your first org-scoped repository
- Introduction to GitHub product features
- Repos
- Issues and pull requests
- Projects
- Discussions
- Actions
- Copilot
- Advanced security
- Packages
- Codespaces
- Other GitHub tools and features
- GitHub Desktop
- GitHub Mobile
- GitHub CLI
- GitHub Marketplace
- Summary
- Test your knowledge
- Useful links
- Chapter 3: Repository Creation and Management
- Technical requirements
- Creating a new repository
- Repository naming conventions
- Initializing with README and .gitignore
- Choosing a license
- Lab 3.1 - Creating a blank repository
- Create a new GitHub repo
- Sign in to GitHub on VS Code and Clone Git Repository
- Commit changes into Git
- The markdown language and the GitHub markdown
- GFM
- Formatting text
- Creating links and images
- Tables
- Advanced markdown features
- Lab 3.2 - Enriching README Files with Markdown Syntax
- Repository settings and management
- Branch management
- Managing issues and pull requests
- Security and access control
- Access permissions
- Security policies
- Automated security tools
- Webhooks and GitHub apps
- Repository insights
- Collaboration and permissions
- Collaborators and teams
- Forking and PRs
- Code reviews
- Managing conflicts
- Project boards
- Summary
- Test your knowledge
- Useful links
- Chapter 4: Basic Git Commands and Workflows
- Technical requirements
- Common Git commands
- Setting up a repository
- Creating a new repository with git init
- Configuring repository settings using git config
- Making changes and committing
- Editing files and checking the status with git status
- Staging changes with git add
- Committing changes with git commit
- Some more common commands
- Fetching changes from a remote repo
- Cloning an existing repository with git clone
- Downloading changes from others with git pull
- Pushing changes with git push
- Linking a local Git repo to a remote repo with git remote add
- Creating new branches with git branch
- Switching between branches with git checkout
- Merging changes between branches with git merge
- Lab 4.1: Linking a remote repo and pushing changes
- Linking a local repo to a remote repo
- Git workflows
- Troubleshooting common issues
- Common issues and solutions
- Merge conflicts
- Detached HEAD state
- Reverting changes
- Resolving issues with remote repositories
- Best practices for troubleshooting
- Summary
- Test your knowledge
- Useful links
- Part 2: Collaborative Development on GitHub
- Chapter 5: Branching and Merging Strategies
- Understanding branches in Git
- Introduction to branches
- Benefits of using branches
- Creating branches
- Using the git command
- Using the GitHub website
- Using the IDE
- Naming conventions and best practices
- Switching between branches
- Updating the working directory
- Preserving uncommitted changes
- Updating the branch pointer
- Stashing changes (optional)
- Merging and conflict resolution
- Types of merges
- Merge commit
- Squash merge
- Rebasing and merging
- Key differences between squash merge and rebase merge
- Performing merges
- Commands for merging branches
- Performing a regular merge
- Performing a squash merge
- Performing a rebase
- Best practices for clean merges
- Conflict resolution
- Branch management techniques
- Managing branches in Git
- Branch protection rules on GitHub
- Require a pull request before merging
- Require status checks to pass
- Require conversation resolution before merging
- Require signed commits
- Require linear history
- Require merge queue
- Require deployments to succeed
- Lock branch
- Do not allow bypassing the above settings
- Restrict who can push to matching branches
- Targeting branches
- Using the fnmatch syntax
- Steps to configure dynamic branch targeting
- Configuring the default branch
- Benefits of setting a default branch
- Collaborative branch management
- Summary
- Test your knowledge
- Useful links
- Chapter 6: Pull Requests and Code Reviews
- Technical requirements
- What is a pull request?
- How was code managed before pull requests existed?
- Version control systems (VCSs):
- Manual code reviews:
- Branching and merging:
- Documentation and change logs:
- The pull request lifecycle
- Creating a pull request
- What is a diff?
- Good practices for writing clear descriptions
- Review process overview
- Lab 6.1: Conducting a code review with a pull request
- Step 1: Create a new GitHub user for review
- Step 2: Invite a collaborator
- Step 3: Clone the repository
- Step 4: Make code changes
- Step 5: Create a pull request
- Step 6: Conduct a code review
- Step 7: Approve the pull request
- Step 8: Merge the pull request
- Conducting effective code reviews
- Code reviews generally serve two main goals:
- Review techniques
- Providing constructive feedback
- Using GitHub tools for reviews
- Integrating changes with confidence
- Final checks before merging:
- Understanding merge conflicts and resolutions
- Merging strategies
- Post-merge best practices
- Some food for thought
- Summary
- Test your knowledge
- Useful links
- Chapter 7: Issues, Projects, Labels, and Milestones
- Technical requirements
- Introduction to issues
- Title and description
- Labels
- Types
- Assignees
- Milestones
- Comments
- Reactions
- Linking issues and pull requests
- Templates
- Notifications
- Search and filtering
- Cross-repository issues
- Lab 7.1: Creating and managing issues
- Using issue templates
- Lab 7.2: Creating an issue template
- Linking issues to pull requests
- What is a GitHub issue number?
- Managing and creating labels
- Setting and tracking milestones
- Projects
- GitHub Projects Classic
- GitHub Projects 2.0
- Differences between GitHub Projects Classic and GitHub Projects 2.0
- Summary
- Test your knowledge
- Useful links
- Chapter 8: GitHub Actions and Automation
- Technical requirements
- Introduction to GitHub Actions
- How Pipeline as Code supports GitHub Actions
- Key components of GitHub Actions
- Events that trigger a workflow
- Jobs, steps, and runners
- GitHub-hosted versus self-hosted runners
- Workflow syntax and file structure
- Lab 8.1: Getting started with GitHub Actions
- Setting up your first workflow
- Defining a simple workflow that runs a basic command, such as printing "Hello, World!"
- Exploring the GitHub Actions Marketplace
- Incorporating these actions into your workflow
- The GitHub Actions Marketplace
- Combining actions
- Best practices in creating workflows
- CI/CD with GitHub Actions
- Setting up Continuous Integration (CI)
- Implementing Continuous Deployment (CD)
- Advanced CI/CD techniques
- Summary
- Test your knowledge
- Useful links
- Chapter 9: Engaging with the Community through GitHub Discussions
- Technical requirements
- Introduction to GitHub Discussions
- Threaded conversations
- Categories and custom categories
- Polls
- Starting a GitHub discussion
- Enabling GitHub Discussions
- Setting up discussion categories
- Creating a new discussion thread
- Verification
- Framing questions and topics
- Encouraging participation and engagement
- Examples of public GitHub discussions
- Best practices for community engagement
- Fostering a welcoming environment
- Active participation and moderation
- Handling conflicts and disagreements
- Recognizing and rewarding contributions
- Leveraging Discussions for project feedback
- Soliciting feedback from the community
- Analyzing and interpreting community input
- Incorporating feedback into project development
- Continuous improvement and iteration
- Summary
- Test your knowledge
- Useful links
- Part 3: Leveraging GitHub for Career Advancement
- Chapter 10: Building and Showcasing Your GitHub Presence
- Technical requirements
- Crafting a professional GitHub profile
- Profile basics
- Contact information
- Pinned repositories
- Activity overview
- Showcasing projects and contributions
- Project selection
- Documentation
- Contribution guidelines
- Visuals and media
- Advanced profile setup
- Badges
- Stars
- Utilizing GitHub Pages for personal branding
- Setting up GitHub Pages
- Content creation
- SEO and analytics
- Continuous improvement
- Lab 10.1: Creating a GitHub page to showcase your profile and skills
- Step 1: Create a new repository
- Step 2: Clone the repository
- Step 3: Create your website
- Step 4: Customize your site (optional)
- Step 5: Commit and push changes
- Step 6: Enable GitHub Pages
- Step 7: View your site
- Step 8: Continuous improvement
- Summary
- Test your knowledge
- Useful links
- Chapter 11: Contributing to Open Source Projects
- Technical requirements
- Exploring the world of open source
- Introduction to open source
- What is open source and why does it matter?
- Why you should contribute
- How to discover the right projects
- Using GitHub's Explore feature
- Searching for projects by language, topic, or technology
- Evaluating project activity and community engagement
- Joining open source communities
- Engaging with project maintainers and contributors
- Participating in forums, chat rooms, and mailing lists
- Lab 11.1: Forking a repository - a complete contribution workflow
- Setting up your environment
- Forking the repository
- Cloning your fork
- Configuring the upstream remote
- Understanding the contribution flow
- Understanding the workflow
- Keeping your fork updated
- Creating a new branch for your changes
- Making and committing changes
- Submitting a pull request
- Pushing changes to your fork
- Submitting your contribution
- Handling feedback and revisions
- Merging your contribution once approved
- Best practices summary
- Understanding open source licensing
- Introduction to open source licenses
- Importance of licensing in open source projects
- Common open source licenses
- Choosing the right license for your contributions
- Understanding the implications of different licenses
- How to apply a license to your own projects
- License compliance
- Ensuring your contributions comply with the project's license
- Understanding the legal and ethical considerations
- Case studies and examples
- Real-world examples of licensing issues and resolutions
- Best practices for maintaining compliance
- Summary
- Test your knowledge
- Useful links
- Chapter 12: Enhancing Development with GitHub Copilot
- Technical requirements
- What is GitHub Copilot?
- Historical context
- Support for multiple LLMs
- Choosing the right AI model for your work
- Available Copilot plans
- How does it work?
- Copilot Chat
- What is its relationship with ChatGPT?
- Copilot CLI
- Getting started with the Copilot CLI
- Copilot within the github.com UI
- Getting started with Copilot on github.com
- Copilot Spaces
- Getting started with GitHub Copilot Spaces
- Copilot on GitHub Mobile
- Copilot agents
- Copilot coding agent
- Copilot code review
- Lab 12.1: Getting started with GitHub Copilot
- Installing Copilot in your editor
- Getting started with Copilot Chat in the IDE
- Autocompletion in the IDE
- Using GitHub Copilot effectively
- Best practices and tips
- Summary
- Test your knowledge
- Useful links
- Chapter 13: Funding Your Projects with GitHub Sponsors
- Introduction to GitHub Sponsors
- Benefits of using GitHub Sponsors
- Eligibility and requirements
- Success stories
- Setting up sponsorship for your projects
- Sponsorship buttons
- Defining sponsorship tiers
- Setting up payment methods
- Promoting your sponsorship profile
- Engaging with your sponsors
- Transparency
- Providing value to sponsors
- Building long-term relationships
- Handling sponsorship challenges
- Summary
- Test your knowledge
- Useful links
- Part 4: Advanced GitHub and Exam Preparation
- Chapter 14: Project Management with GitHub Projects
- Technical requirements
- Introduction to GitHub projects
- Getting started with GitHub Projects
- Creating and customizing board columns
- Project layout
- Views
- Custom fields
- Adding and editing items
- Archiving items
- Understanding project visibility (public versus private)
- Project scope (organization versus user)
- Integrating projects with issues and milestones
- Lab 14.1: Setting up project boards
- Creating a project board
- Customizing columns
- Adding and managing cards
- Modifying visible fields
- Filtering and sorting
- Automating project workflows
- Using built-in automations
- Using GitHub Actions
- Using the REST API
- Summary
- Test your knowledge
- Useful links
- Chapter 15: Security Practices and User Management
- Technical requirements
- GitHub security features
- Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
- Available 2FA methods
- Setting up 2FA on GitHub
- Branch protection rules
- Security configurations
- What is Dependabot?
- Security alerts and vulnerability management
- Managing access and permissions
- User roles and permissions
- Overview of different user roles
- Assigning roles to users
- Team management
- Creating and managing teams
- Assigning repository access to teams
- Collaborator access control
- Adding collaborators to repositories:
- Setting permissions for collaborators:
- OAuth and personal access tokens
- Managing OAuth applications
- Creating and using personal access tokens
- Best practices for repository security
- Code scanning with Static Application Security Testing (SAST) tools
- CI/CD pipeline security measures
- Monitoring and auditing activities
- Incident response and recovery
- Summary
- Test your knowledge
- Useful links
- Chapter 16: Mock Exams and Study Strategies
- Areas of concentration
- What to expect
- Introduction to Git and GitHub questions - big deal
- Nuances of buttons and icons
- The GenAI evolution
- Multiple-answer questions
- GitHub gists and wikis
- The amazing GHCertified!
- GitHub Docs is your friend
- Mock exam questions
- Answers to chapter quizzes
- Additional questions
- Conclusion
- What's next after certification?
- Chapter 17: Unlock Your Book's Exclusive Benefits
- How to unlock these benefits in three easy steps
- Packt Page
- Other Books You May Enjoy
- Index
Preface
Hello! Welcome to GitHub Foundations Certification Guide. GitHub is the most advanced AI-powered collaborative developer platform; hundreds of millions of developers across the world build software on it. This book is a guide to the GitHub Foundations Certification, one of the five exams available as of the time of writing. It is the entry-level exam, and arguably the easiest of the five (although this is subjective!).
GitHub Certifications help you to reinforce your knowledge, establish your skills, and prove your proficiency in using the platform.
This book serves as a comprehensive guide to preparing for the GitHub Foundations Certification exam, detailing the critical components, expectations, and strategies necessary for success. It outlines the significance of the GitHub Foundations Certification, which validates expertise in Git and GitHub, and highlights the competitive edge it provides in the job market. The certification validates skills in navigating the platform, collaborating securely, and contributing effectively to software and open source projects.
I will provide information on the exam structure, preparation strategies, and domains to focus on to increase your chances of acing the exam. In addition, I will dive deeper into the world of Git and GitHub, highlighting the various features and products. You will learn the basics of Git repositories, source control management on GitHub, GitHub issues, pull requests, projects, GitHub Actions, Copilot, Discussions, and many other features that have made the world love it so much.
There are two relevant takeaways from Insight's report in January 2025 (https://interviewprep.org/are-software-developers-in-demand-opportunities-and-growth/):
- Digital transformation: The ongoing digital transformation across various industries, such as healthcare, finance, and retail, is driving the demand for skilled developers. Companies are enhancing their digital presence and operational efficiency, which requires continuous development and optimization of software solutions.
- Emerging technologies: The integration of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and blockchain is creating new opportunities for developers. Businesses need developers proficient in both traditional programming languages and cutting-edge innovations.
Excellence in teamwork and practical experience with collaborative tools and version control systems would be sought after. Proficiency on GitHub will set you apart!
Who this book is for
This book is for software developers and engineers looking to master Git and GitHub for efficient code management, project collaboration, and streamlined workflows. Infrastructure engineers and system administrators will benefit from learning how to manage scripts and track infrastructure changes.
Educators and trainers can use this guide to teach software development and prepare students for industry certifications. Aspiring developers and tech professionals will find it a valuable resource for building essential GitHub skills and advancing their software development careers.
It is aimed at entry-level developers, seasoned software engineers, platform engineers, and project managers, providing a pathway to exciting career opportunities.
What this book covers
Sprint 0, Preparing for the Certification, helps you get ready for the certification journey, outlining the necessary preparations and mindset.
Chapter 1, Introduction to Version Control with Git, introduces the concept of version control, its importance in software development, and the basics of Git. You will learn why Git is the industry standard for version control and how it can significantly improve coding efficiency and collaboration.
Chapter 2, Navigating the GitHub Interface, explores the GitHub platform, helping you understand its interface and learn how to navigate through its various features. This chapter is crucial for utilizing GitHub effectively for project management and collaboration.
Chapter 3, Repository Creation and Management, discusses creating and managing GitHub repositories, including best practices for naming, initializing, and licensing.
Chapter 4, Basic Git Commands and Workflows, guides you through intermediate Git commands, flags, and workflows, including setting up repositories, making changes, collaborating with others, and troubleshooting common issues. You will learn how to use Git for everyday development tasks, ensuring a smooth and efficient workflow.
Chapter 5, Branching and Merging Strategies, examines the branching model, as well as branching and merging strategies in Git and GitHub, highlighting structured branching for team collaboration and techniques to enhance productivity and code quality.
Chapter 6, Pull Requests and Code Reviews, explains the concept of pull requests and code reviews on GitHub for maintaining code quality and fostering collaboration in software development. It highlights best practices for maintaining code quality through peer reviews.
Chapter 7, Issues, Projects, Labels, and Milestones, provides a basic guide to GitHub's project management tools, focusing on issues, labels, and milestones, and includes practical exercises to enhance understanding and application. It also teaches you how to use these features to track progress and organize work within a team.
Chapter 8, GitHub Actions and Automation, provides an introductory guide to GitHub Actions, covering its role in continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), the concept of pipeline as code, key components and terminologies, practical lab exercises, and best practices for creating and managing workflows.
Chapter 9, Engaging with the Community through GitHub Discussions, teaches you about GitHub Discussions, a platform feature that fosters community engagement. This chapter covers how to start discussions, respond to queries, and build a community around projects.
Chapter 10, Building and Showcasing Your GitHub Presence, explores how to build and showcase a professional GitHub presence, including creating a standout profile, effectively showcasing projects and contributions, and utilizing GitHub Pages for personal branding.
Chapter 11, Contributing to Open Source Projects, discusses how to contribute to open source projects on GitHub, covering topics such as navigating the open source landscape, identifying suitable projects, understanding open source licensing, and the benefits of contributing to the open source community.
Chapter 12, Enhancing Development with GitHub Copilot, explores the transformative impact of generative AI on software development, focusing on GitHub Copilot's capabilities, setup, usage, and best practices to enhance development workflows and elevate coding experiences.
Chapter 13, Funding Your Projects with GitHub Sponsors, teaches you how to set up and manage GitHub Sponsors to secure financial support for open source projects, including creating an appealing sponsorship profile, engaging with sponsors, and leveraging sponsorship tiers for sustained project growth.
Chapter 14, Project Management with GitHub Projects, is a guide on using GitHub Projects for effective project management, covering setup, customization, key features, and automation to enhance team collaboration and workflow efficiency.
Chapter 15, Security Practices and User Management, provides an in-depth exploration of GitHub's security practices and user management, covering topics such as two-factor authentication, branch protection rules, security configurations, managing access and permissions, and best practices for repository security.
Chapter 16, Mock Exams and Study Strategies, includes deeper preparation tips, mock exam questions, study strategies, and tips for mastering Git and GitHub features.
To get the most out of this book
You will need to have a basic knowledge of writing/editing code or scripts in one language, as well as the following tools.
Software/hardware covered in the book
Operating system requirements
Visual Studio Code 1.99.3
Windows, macOS, or Linux
Command Prompt, PowerShell, or Terminal
GitHub.com account
Obtaining a GitHub.com account is free. You can sign up at www.github.com.
If you are using the digital version of this book, we advise you to type the code yourself or access the code from the book's GitHub repository (a link is available in the next...
