Setting up Git on your computer

Whether you installed Git for Windows on your Windows computer, or you are working with a pre-installed Git client on your Mac or Linux computer, you need to perform some additional setup beyond simply installing the software. The setup tasks ahead include the following:

1. Set your default username and email address.
2. Create a Secure Shell (SSH) key so you can securely communicate with remote hubs such as GitHub.
3. Add the SSH key to your account on GitHub.

Let’s go through the process for each.

To get started, you need to launch a terminal. If you are using Mac or Linux, you should be able to find an app on your system, simply called Terminal. The commands I’ll present are going to be using the Bash shell. Mac’s terminal program defaults to a shell called the Z shell (zsh), which is directly compatible with Bash. Most Linux installations default to Bash, so you are all set. If you are in Windows, you need to...