Labs

All labs must be submitted using GitHub. Follow the instructions below to create a GitHub account and share it with your TA/instructor.

• Have Git installed on your computer
• Have a GitHub account (free account)
• Have a repository on GitHub where you want to commit your changes
  • Keep the repository private and share with your partner and TA umail.
  • GitHub free account has a limit of 3 collaborators: you, your lab partner, and primary TA umail for access.
• GitHub tutorial about repositories
• If authentication requires SSH tokens, please follow the steps in the following GitHub document to set up SSH tokens:
  • Managing your personal access tokens

1. Open Terminal or Command Prompt

   • On Windows, search for “cmd” in the Start menu.
   • On macOS or Linux, open the Terminal application.

2. Configure Git (First-time setup)

   • Use your UMASS email address:

     git config --global user.name "Your Name"
     git config --global user.email "youremail@example.com"
     

3. Navigate to Your Project Directory

   • Run:

     cd path/to/your/project
     

4. Initialize a Git Repository (If not already a Git repository)

   • If your project is not yet a Git repository, initialize it by running:

     git remote add origin https://github.com/yourusername/yourrepositoryname.git
     

   • Replace https://github.com/yourusername/yourrepositoryname.git with the URL of your GitHub repository.

5. Pull Latest Changes (Optional)

   • If your repository already exists and you’re collaborating, pull the latest changes from GitHub to avoid conflicts:

     git pull origin main
     

   • Note: Replace main with the default branch name if it’s different.

6. Stage Changes for Commit

   • Add the files you’ve changed or created to the staging area with:

     git add .
     

   • The . adds all changed files. If you want to add specific files, replace . with the file names.

7. Commit Changes

   • Commit your changes with a meaningful message:

     git commit -m "A meaningful commit message"
     

   • Use a meaningful commit name to understand the current state of the project. For example:
     • “7 segment display hex”
     • “Need to debug button input”
   • There is no strict rule, but the commit message should help you understand the state of the committed version.

8. Push Changes to GitHub

   • Push your changes to GitHub:

     git push origin main
     

   • Again, replace main with your branch name if it’s different.