IT Fundamentals Module 05: Version Control with Git (Module 05 of 06)

Learning Objectives

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• Use Git for basic version control operations: init, add, commit, push, pull, and branch

Prerequisites

• A computer with internet access
• A terminal application (Terminal on macOS, Git Bash on Windows, terminal on Linux)
• Git installed (git-scm.com)
• Module 02 recommended for terminal skills

Estimated self-study time:

Concepts

Version Control with Git

Git is a version control system that tracks changes to files over time. It lets you save snapshots of your work, collaborate with others, and revert to previous versions if something goes wrong.

Why Git Matters for Cloud

• Infrastructure-as-code templates (CloudFormation, SAM, CDK) are stored in Git repositories
• CI/CD pipelines pull code from Git repositories to build and deploy applications
• Git provides an audit trail of every change: who changed what, when, and why

Core Git Concepts

Essential Git Commands

# Set up Git (one-time)
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"

# Start a new repository
git init my-project
cd my-project

# Check the status of your files
git status

# Stage files for commit
git add index.html          # Stage a specific file
git add .                   # Stage all changed files

# Commit staged files
git commit -m "Add homepage"

# Connect to a remote repository
git remote add origin https://github.com/you/my-project.git

# Push commits to the remote
git push origin main

# Pull changes from the remote
git pull origin main

# Create and switch to a new branch
git checkout -b feature/add-login

# Switch back to main
git checkout main

# View commit history
git log --oneline

✅Tip: In the AWS Bootcamp, you will use Git to store CloudFormation templates and application code.

Bootcamp connection: Understanding Git prepares you for CI/CD pipelines in Module 12: CI/CD Pipelines, where pipelines automatically pull code from Git repositories to build and deploy applications.

Instructor Notes

Estimated lecture time: 10 to 15 minutes

Common student questions:

• Q: Do I need a GitHub account? A: You do not need a GitHub account for this module or the lab. The lab uses Git locally on your machine. However, a GitHub account is useful for the bootcamp, where you will push code to remote repositories. You can create a free account at github.com.

• Q: What is the difference between git add and git commit? A: git add stages your changes, telling Git which files you want to include in the next snapshot. git commit saves that snapshot with a descriptive message. Think of git add as placing items on a conveyor belt and git commit as pressing the button to package them.

Teaching tips:

• Do a live demo: create a repo, make a commit, push to GitHub. Show the commit history on GitHub to demonstrate that Git tracks every change.
• Show the commit history on GitHub so students can see the visual representation of changes over time.

Pause point:

• Ask students what git status shows. Expected answer: it shows which files have been modified, which are staged for commit, and which are untracked.

Key Takeaways

• Git tracks changes to files over time and is the foundation for infrastructure-as-code and CI/CD pipelines.

Previous: Module 04, APIs and Programming Basics | Next: Module 06, Security Fundamentals | IT Fundamentals Overview

AWS Bootcamp: From Novice to Architect Author: Samuel Ogunti License: CC BY-NC 4.0