More background on Version Control before Step 1

[dnielsen2022]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
I think it may be helpful for people with no development background to have an explanation pf what version control is and why it is necessary.

Describe the solution you'd like
I would like to see some text and reference to a video perhaps. A video like What is Version Control in Software Development? Simply Explained

Describe alternatives you've considered
None

Additional context
The exercise starts at creating a branch, which may be to far ahead for some audience members.

[kilasuit]

I see your point but that is something that any good trainer would have done before getting to this point with their trainees. I will take note of your video though as that could be a good explainer too.
Not saying that the readme for the repo couldn't also be updated to include this in case someone found it off their own backs and didn't know what source control was.
I'd be hopeful that the maintainers would accept a PR if you felt up to it @dnielsen2022

[heiskr]

We're open to pull requests :) I'd recommend linking to a more official article though, something like
https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Getting-Started-About-Version-Control

[datatalking]

@heiskr now you’ve got me thinking about a way I would improve my path of learning get I’ll go look for the graphics and work up a PR later this month.

[CodefortheCarolinas]

In my experience using this tutorial with non- or beginning developers, this is absolutely something that is needed. The two examples above are, I think, way too much info, though. They could be starting points for another tutorial, to go even before Intro to GitHub, that could be called Why We Need Version Control.

What is needed by non-developers and people who have only written code independently (like for a class, not part of a team) is a simple statement like this:

We need version control: 1) So one person doesn't mess up what another person is doing and 2) So that we can keep using the working version of the software while making the new version.

Without this "why it matters" insight, the Intro to GitHub is baffling to people who don't currently write code in teams.

While, yes, a good trainer would explain this, trainers point their students to the tutorial as preparation to work on independently. And one of the points of having a tutorial like this is so it is available to independent learners.

[OfekiAlm]

Can I work on this?
@heiskr @kilasuit

[hectorsector]

Can I work on this?

Thanks for the offer, @OfekiAlm! You could, but it doesn't sound like we've yet reached consensus on the right approach to this course so any PRs you open may not be merged. As long as you're OK with that potential then that's OK.