#Git, GitHub, and Markdown: A Brief Overview and Rationale
Git is a version control tool. It lives on your computer (is local), and is accessed through the command line.
Git tracks changes when the user tells it to: git add cues up revisions, and git commit -a adds modified files. All files live in the .git repository--again, on your computer.
Git is the local power behind version control.
Github is a hosting service for git repositories. You must first set up an account and configure it on your computer. Once your local git repository and Github are connected, you can make copies of other users' repositories, edit them, and send your proposed changes back to the user who can then choose to incorporate your work into their repository.
Github connects Git repositories remotely and is the power behind collaboration.
Markdown is a markup (I know!) style that allows you to annotate text for formatting in a quick and lightweight manner.
GitHub supports markdown, which renders more attractive files.
Markdown is also thought to be more sustainable over time, since it is a plain text file. You'll notice this file is in markdown--check out its extension!
For a cheat-sheet to get you started, read here: GitHub Markdown Cheatsheet. I used this cheatsheet for reference in creating this repo.
For more: Dennis Tenen and Grant Wythoff, "Sustainable Authorship in Plain Text Using Pandoc and Markdown."