**Course Title:** Community Involvement for Programmers **Section Title:** Collaborating on Group Projects **Topic:** Form a group project with classmates and start collaboration using Git. **Objective:** In this lab topic, you will learn how to form a group project with your classmates and start collaboration using Git. By the end of this topic, you will understand how to create a new repository, invite team members, and collaborate on a project using Git. **Materials Needed:** * A GitHub account * Git installed on your computer * A code editor or IDE of your choice * A project idea or a simple coding project to start with **Step 1: Create a New Repository** To start a new project, you need to create a new repository on GitHub. A repository is where you store all your project files, including code, images, and other assets. 1. Log in to your GitHub account and click on the "+" button in the top-right corner of the dashboard. 2. Select "New repository" from the dropdown menu. 3. Fill in the required information, such as repository name, description, and choose a visibility level (public or private). 4. Click on the "Create repository" button to create the new repository. **Step 2: Invite Team Members** To collaborate on the project, you need to invite your team members to join the repository. 1. Go to your repository page and click on the "Settings" button (looks like a gear icon). 2. Scroll down to the "Collaborators" section. 3. Click on the "Add people" button. 4. Enter the GitHub usernames of your team members, separated by commas. 5. Assign the correct permission levels for each team member (e.g., "Maintain" or "Write"). 6. Click on the "Add" button to add the team members. **Step 3: Initialize a Git Repository** To start tracking changes to your project, you need to initialize a Git repository on your local machine. 1. Create a new folder for your project and navigate to it in your terminal or command prompt. 2. Initialize the Git repository by running the command `git init`. 3. Create a new file called "README.md" and add some basic text to describe your project. 4. Run the command `git add .` to stage all files in the repository. 5. Run the command `git commit -m "Initial commit"` to commit the changes. **Step 4: Link Your Local Repository to GitHub** To link your local repository to the GitHub repository, you need to add the GitHub repository as a remote repository. 1. Run the command `git remote add origin <repository-url>` (replace `<repository-url>` with the URL of your GitHub repository). 2. Run the command `git fetch origin` to fetch the latest changes from the remote repository. 3. Run the command `git branch -M main` to set the main branch. 4. Run the command `git push -u origin main` to push the changes to the remote repository. **Step 5: Collaborate on the Project** Now that you have set up the Git repository and invited team members, you can start collaborating on the project. 1. Create a new branch for a specific feature or task using the command `git branch <branch-name>`. 2. Switch to the new branch using the command `git switch <branch-name>`. 3. Make changes to the code and commit them using the command `git commit -m "<commit-message>"`. 4. Push the changes to the remote repository using the command `git push -u origin <branch-name>`. 5. Repeat the process for each team member. **Tips and Best Practices:** * Use meaningful branch names and commit messages. * Use `git status` to check the status of your repository. * Use `git log` to view the commit history. * Use `git diff` to view the changes between commits. **Additional Resources:** * Git documentation: <https://git-scm.com/docs> * GitHub documentation: <https://help.github.com> **What to Do Next:** You have now set up a group project with your classmates using Git. You can continue to collaborate on the project and learn more about Git and GitHub. In the next topic, we will cover how to assess your involvement in communities. **Leave a comment or ask for help:** If you have any questions or need help with this lab topic, feel free to leave a comment below. I will respond to your comments and provide assistance as needed.