So you learned how to write good code, what now?
You learn how to save it appropriately with version control software (VCS), our favorite is Git!
Git + GitHub
Git is one of the backbones of the modern software world (read as: everyone is using it so you should too). It’s a piece of version control software (VCS), which basically means it’ll track your changes for you and make sure that if two people are working on the same chunk of code, they don’t accidentally overwrite each other’s work.
GitHub is one of the big reasons git has gotten as popular as it has.
Basically a code hosting service, they allow you to put your git version-controlled code on the web so that you can easily share it with others.
This website is actually hosted through GitHub and the underlying content is version controlled with git (which means you can also go back in time and see what it originally looked like, if you want to).
Both of these will give you peace of mind that if something breaks, you can figure out where it broke.
All of the lab computers all have git installed and is accessible through the command line.
Is this all new to you?
No big deal! If you are taking the time to learn how to write code, you should take the time to learn how to save it.
Here are links to the MolSSI tutorials:
Not convinced you need to “git on the git train”?
A note from a former group member:
The git train is a fantastic place to be, even if you are writing little scripts to do random stuff. Git is very easy to use, especially in the confines of PyCharm. This is valuable because now you have 1. A backup to all your code, 2. A way to see what you changed to make your code work again if you mess it up.
Need help getting started with Git?
We will defer to this stackoverflow post :)
Got questions? Ask them on the McCoy Group Stack Overflow.