Git version control

This week we learned Git and version control workflow. Before this class, I always mixed Git and GitHub and did not really understand how Git works. After doing exercises like git add, git commit, and git log, I finally understand the process: modify → stage → commit.

I also tried Git on my own game project. It felt really helpful because I can save versions and go back if something breaks. This made me realize Git is not just theory, it is a real tool developers use every day.

Project evalution

Our group evaluated the React project. It has more than 1,700 contributors and over 21k commits, which shows it is very active. One thing I noticed is that contributor info is not easy to find on the main website. We had to look inside the repository to find guides. The instructions there are clear and helpful, and maintainers respond to issues quickly. The community looks active and friendly. However, many beginner issues still look hard, so it seems contributors need strong coding skills.

Looking at different projects, I think open source communities are very different from each other. Some are beginner friendly, some are more advanced. What excites me most is the chance to work on real projects and learn from real developers. It feels more meaningful than normal assignments. The biggest challenge for me is starting. Large codebases look scary and it is hard to know where to begin. To overcome this, I plan to start small, read docs carefully, and learn step by step.

This week helped me see how real development works. Git and open source felt confusing before, but now they feel more understandable. I think once I take the first step, contributing will become much easier.