In the next series of mini-lessons, we will introduce you to GitHub repositories, and basic functions that you will perform to edit files and synchronize your changes with GitHub.
You will need to have installed VS Code and GitHub Desktop to work through the rest of the material in this section. If you are planning on using Codespaces to work through the course materials (which we recommend), then you can skip the rest of this chapter and head straight to learning Python in the next chapter.
However, since using GitHub is an essential part of many development and data science workflows, it is worth learning how to use it. You can always come back to this chapter later, when you’re ready to install the software necessary to work on your own computer.