02-0: Clone Github Repositories

Github

• Github is an online service to store primarily computer programs (small datasets are okay to store).
• Github repository is like a folder on your computer (but it is online)
  • public: anybody can access it
  • private: only the owner can access it (you cannot even see it on Github)
• There are numerous public repositories that serve as excellent examples to learn coding
• You can clone (just another way of saying copy) any public Github repositories to your local computer

Objective

Learn how to clone Github repositories.

Sublime Merge

• In cloning Github repositories, we will use Sublime Merge.

• Sublime Merge is certainly not the only option. But, I found it very easy and light-weight to use especially for just cloning Github repositories.

Install Sublime Merge

Click here and install it.

Clone a repository to your computer

• Copy the url of the repository
• Clone the repository
• Do it yourself

1. Visit the Github repository you want to clone (copy)
2. Click on the Code button
3. Click on the a button with two sheets of papers, which will copy the url of the repository

• Step 1
• Step 2

Go to Sublime Merge and follow file -> Clone Repository

You should now see something like below.

• Note that the source url you copied is already printed on the Source URL box (if not, just paste the url yourself).
• On Repository Name, the name of the repository for which you copied the url is printed automatically. If you would like a different name, type the name you want.
• On Destination Path, click on the gray box with ... to select the folder on your machine in which the repository is going to be cloned.
• Finally, hit the Clone button

• Let’s clone a repository that has many templates and sample qmd files used in this course.

• We will actually use this template later, so do not delete it after you clone it.

• The repository is found here.