This is repository contains code to:
- process raw data
- subequently analyse it
- output graphs and tables
- typeset results and text into a final document
The folder structure in the repositiory follows a typical approach I use for organizing a project. Raw data,and all steps and resources necessary for processeing (i.e. scripts / functions / packages) are kept seperately.
We'll check out one of the folders within the repository and see what Git can do for us. Navigate to the folder Diss/Analysis/source/
You will see a list of files, with some comments that might seem random (e.g. "Calculated ratios, added CI + plotting" for the first file "HC_plot.R"), and a date. Have a look around for some abstract, but tidy code. I recommend the script "data_subsetting_plot.R" as an example of good coding practice.
The comment and date refer to the last time a particular file was changed, and when. However, the comment is often not specific or unique to a file, and looking more closely, you will find that many files share the same comment.
This comes from the way Git manages version control:
After you're happy with changes you made to one, or multiple files, you commit these changes to your online repository, and this is how you keep track of what you (or others) have been doing.
*Note: Have a look at git's features and how the online file storage may look like.
Let's go back to Diss/ and check out some of the latest commits. Above the list of files and folders, click on Commits - there should be 60 of them.
Here you can see an overview of all the changes that I committed. Each commit comes with a title, a comment, the author's name and a date. Other options (e.g. browsing a snapshot of a repository from the past) are available on the right hand side.
Scroll down a bit, and click on the commit called "*TS Graphs, initial BMD table *" from the 23rd of July, 2015. You'll see which files I modified, and how - added lines are shown in green, and changed, or deleted ones in red.
The version control system is what makes git so powerful:
Even after overwriting a file with a new save, you can always go back to a previous commit and restore what was lost.