E16: Experience local portfolio management

Up to now, (most of you) have been managing your professional portfolio by editing the files in your portfolio repository on GitHub using a browser.

Now that you know git, you can make a clone of your GitHub professional portfolio repository on your laptop. Then you can edit, create, and delete files on your laptop and “push” those changes to your GitHub repository when you’re ready.

For professional portfolio management, you will find that the GitHub Desktop application is even more simple than the command line.

Let’s get started:

1. Review the GitHub Desktop Documentation.
2. Download and install GitHub Desktop.
3. Bring up your professional portfolio page in your browser.
4. Click on the green “Clone or Download” button on the right side, then click on “Open in Desktop”. This will clone your professional portfolio to your laptop and set up GitHub Desktop to manage the files.
5. Use an editor (such as Eclipse or Emacs (not Word!)) to create a new technical essay file in the essays/ directory named 2016-09-15.md. This file will hold your technical essay regarding Configuration Management. Use the contents of a prior essay to make sure the file contents are formatted correctly.
6. Write the first paragraph of the essay. It does not need to be completed at this point.
7. Use GitHub desktop to commit your new file and push the changes to GitHub. (In GitHub Desktop, the “sync” operation will do both of these at once.)
8. Retrieve your portfolio and click on the “Essays” link in the home page to verify that your new (partially finished) essay is now published.

Submission instructions

Due by the time and date indicated on the Schedule page, complete the above instructions and verify that you’ve successfully created a new essay page.

We will be building off this experience in the class which immediately follows the due date and time. If you have not completed this, you will not receive credit for the in-class experience.