Installing Git and Setting Up Accounts

Git is a Version Control System (VCS) that has gained a lot of traction among the programming community. We will want to use version control to keep track of the files we write, and the changes we make to them.

Account Creation

During the course we will show you how to use GitHub to host some of your work and do code related project management. You will need to set up an account:

Mac Users

On MacOS, download and install Git from here. Also install the command-line auto-completion script, as described here.

Linux Users

Follow the steps documented here to install on Linux from the terminal.

Windows Users

Download and install the latest versions of:

After installing these programs use Windows Explorer to go to a folder that contains some documents (any folder) and right click on it. You should see some additional items - "GitBash" and "TortoiseGit" appear in the context menu upon right-clicking.

Windows PATH Setting Redux

We also want Git from the command line, so we again need to update our PATH settings.

Right-click on Computer. Then go to "Properties" and select the tab "Advanced System settings". Choose "Environment Variables" and select Path from the list of system variables.

Choose Edit.

On Windows 7 or 8 machines: If you accepted all defaults during your installation, and didn't have any other non-default setting prior to starting this guide, modifying the following string, copy and paste the following string without spaces at the start or end:

   ;C:\Program Files\Git\bin

On Windows 10 machines: Click New and paste the following string:

    C:\Program Files\Git\bin

Click on OK as often as needed.

Verifying your install

To verify your installation, type the following command in a terminal and press the return key:

   git --version

You should get an output that looks like:

    git version 2.7.4

Ensure that you have a version greater than 2.7.1 installed.