Getting Started with GitHub

This post is supported by National Science Foundation award #2449139.

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While anyone in the mathematical sciences should have no trouble engaging in the development of software supporting math-related instruction, I find that many colleagues are daunted by the first steps to move beyond hacking out a spreadsheet or script for their personal use. And I get it – those of us working on the theoretical side of things often want our development environments and collaboration tooling to “just work”, so we can focus on the interesting task of creating a new great pedagogical tool for our classroom (and beyond!).

I think a lot folks don’t realize that this isn’t even unique to mathematics-adjacent faculty dipping their toes into software development. There’s a whole subdiscpline of engineering focused on “Developer Operations” (DevOps), dedicated to abstracting that boring nonsense away, so even professional software engineers can focus on their core work without worrying about the little details of what makes their computers work or allows their contributions to become a part of a larger project.

This is why I’m so passionate about training mathematicians about modern cloud development infrastructure powered by GitHub: in 2025, so much of this frustrating setup can be replaced by big green buttons in your web browser. Push this button, and after waiting a few minutes, everything you need to write software for mathematics education, and share and collaborate with other mathematicians on such projects, is at your fingertips, whether you’re on Windows, Linux, or a smart toaster (assuming it has Chrome installed).

My handbook GitHub for Mathematicians (which is itself an open collaborative project including contributions from several colleagues) is available to you to learn how to take advantage of these tools for yourself, and I’m excited to announce that I’ll be running my next Getting Started with GitHub Zoom workshop on December 15 and 17 this winter.

You can register on ScholarLattice now. But I also plan on sharing several posts over the coming weeks pointing out a few of my favorite topics from my handbook and training. So join me in about a week, and we’ll get started exploring the GitHub Cinematic Multiverse by learning about how Git version control doesn’t treat time as linear! 👀