My frist blog: What I Learned Today: GitHub Foundations and Building a Tech Vocabulary
What I Learned Today: GitHub Foundations and Building a Tech Vocabulary
Today marks an important step in my learning journey. Instead of passively consuming content, I decided to pause, reflect, and document what I learned. Writing about learning is powerful—it turns information into understanding and understanding into growth. This blog is not about being perfect or expert-level; it is about being honest, consistent, and curious.
In today’s session, I focused on two major areas:
Understanding GitHub and some of its most important tools and concepts
Starting a daily technical vocabulary habit
I also want to make this blog interactive. If you are reading this and have suggestions, corrections, or improvements, please leave a comment. Feedback is one of the fastest ways to grow.
Why I Started Writing a Daily Learning Blog
In the tech world, learning never stops. New tools, frameworks, and concepts appear constantly. I realized that if I don’t track what I learn, most of it fades away after a few days. Writing a blog forces me to:
Think clearly about what I actually understood
Identify gaps in my knowledge
Build confidence in explaining concepts
Create a public record of my progress
This blog is not only for others—it is mainly for my future self.
What I Learned About GitHub Today
GitHub is much more than just a place to store code. Before today, I knew GitHub mainly as a platform where developers upload projects. But today I learned that GitHub is an entire ecosystem designed for collaboration, version control, open-source contribution, and professional growth.
Let me break down the key GitHub-related concepts I learned today.
1. Markdown (MD)
Markdown, often written as .md, is a lightweight markup language used to format text. GitHub uses Markdown extensively, especially in README files.
Before today, I saw README.md files everywhere, but I didn’t fully understand their importance. Now I realize that a README is often the first impression of a project.
With Markdown, we can:
Create headings using
#,##,###Write bold and italic text
Add bullet points and numbered lists
Insert links, images, and code blocks
Markdown is simple, readable, and powerful. It allows developers to explain their projects clearly without complex formatting tools. Learning Markdown is like learning the language of documentation.
2. MIT License
Another important concept I learned today is the MIT License.
When you create a project and publish it on GitHub, people can see it—but can they use it? Modify it? Share it? That’s where licenses come in.
The MIT License is one of the most popular open-source licenses. It allows others to:
Use the code freely
Modify it
Distribute it
Use it for commercial purposes
The only main requirement is that the original author’s copyright and license notice must be included.
This taught me an important lesson: writing code is not enough—defining how others can use it is equally important.
3. Pull Requests (PR)
Pull Requests, commonly called PRs, are a core part of collaboration on GitHub.
A pull request is created when someone wants to merge changes from one branch into another, usually into the main branch of a project.
What I understood today is that PRs are not just about merging code—they are about:
Code review
Discussion
Quality control
Learning from others
Through PRs, contributors can suggest improvements, fix bugs, or add features. Maintainers can review the code, request changes, or approve it.
This makes GitHub a social platform for developers, not just a code repository.
4. Contributors
The contributors section of a GitHub project shows the people who have contributed to that repository.
Earlier, I thought contributors were only core developers. Today I learned that even small contributions matter, such as:
Fixing a typo in documentation
Improving a README
Reporting a bug
Suggesting an enhancement
Every contribution counts. This changed my mindset. I no longer feel that I need to be an expert to contribute to open source. I just need to be willing to learn and help.
Starting My Technical Vocabulary Journey
Along with GitHub, I started something equally important today: building my technical vocabulary.
In technology, understanding words is crucial. Many times, concepts seem difficult not because they are complex, but because the terminology is unfamiliar.
From today, I decided to learn a few technical words daily and truly understand them instead of memorizing definitions.
Here are today’s words and what I understood from them.
1. Scalability
Scalability refers to a system’s ability to handle growth.
In simple terms, if more users, more data, or more traffic come to a system, can it still perform well?
For example:
Can a website handle 100 users today and 1 million users tomorrow?
Can a database grow without slowing down the application?
Scalability is not just about size—it is about smart design. A scalable system grows efficiently without breaking.
2. Integration
Integration means connecting different systems, tools, or services so they work together.
In real-world tech:
Connecting a payment gateway to an app
Integrating an API with a website
Linking a database with a backend service
Good integration makes systems powerful and flexible. Poor integration creates complexity and errors.
This word helped me understand how modern software is rarely standalone—it is usually part of a larger ecosystem.
3. Latency
Latency is the delay between a request and a response.
For example:
The time between clicking a button and seeing the result
The delay between sending data and receiving it
Low latency means fast response. High latency means noticeable delay.
In today’s fast-paced digital world, latency directly affects user experience. Even a small delay can frustrate users.
4. Deployment
Deployment is the process of making an application available for use.
This includes:
Moving code from local development to a server
Configuring environments
Making sure the application runs correctly for users
Writing code is only part of the journey. Deployment is where learning meets reality.
5. Infrastructure
Infrastructure refers to the underlying foundation that supports applications.
This includes:
Servers
Networks
Databases
Cloud services
Infrastructure is like the roads, electricity, and buildings of a city. Without strong infrastructure, even the best applications cannot function properly.
My Plan for Tomorrow and Beyond
Today was just the beginning. Tomorrow, I plan to:
Learn more GitHub features
Explore open-source projects
Learn new technical vocabulary words
Share my learning consistently
I will also try to apply what I learn instead of just reading about it. Practice is the real test of understanding.
source
📚 Sources & Learning References
This blog is based on my personal learning and understanding.
The concepts discussed here are widely used in the software development community.
My learning was supported by the following resources:
Official GitHub Documentation (for Markdown, Pull Requests, Contributors, and Licensing)
Open-source repositories on GitHub (READMEs and contribution guidelines)
General software engineering knowledge from developer blogs and tutorials
My own hands-on exploration and notes
Post a Comment