Git and GitHub or PHP First What Beginners Should Pick

Dev Fundamentals · Beginner Guide

Git and GitHub or PHP First — What Beginners Should Pick

SECTION 01What is Git?

Git is a version control system. It saves snapshots of your code so you can go back in time, undo mistakes, try new features safely, and work with other people without overwriting their work.

# First-time setup
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"

# Start a repo
git init

# Save your changes
git add .
git commit -m "First commit"

# Connect to GitHub
git remote add origin https://github.com/you/repo.git
git push -u origin main

# Create a branch for a new feature
git checkout -b feature-login

# Make changes and commit
git add .
git commit -m "Add login page"

# Push the branch to GitHub
git push -u origin feature-login

# Merge into main (usually via a Pull Request)
git checkout main
git merge feature-login

SECTION 02What is GitHub?

GitHub is a website that hosts Git repositories in the cloud. It also adds features on top of Git — pull requests, issues, CI/CD pipelines, and a public profile that becomes your portfolio.

SECTION 03What is PHP?

PHP is a backend programming language. It runs on the server, talks to databases, and builds dynamic websites — the kind that show different content for each user. It still powers a huge share of the web, including WordPress.

<?php
echo "Hello, PHP!";

$name = "World";
echo "Hello, " . $name . "!";
?>

<?php
function double($n) {
    return $n * 2;
}

for ($i = 1; $i <= 5; $i++) {
    echo double($i) . "\n";
}
?>

SECTION 04Difficulty and Order

Git is a tool — small and learnable in a week. PHP is a language — deeper and take weeks to get productive. For beginners, the right order is: learn a bit of Git early, and start PHP in parallel.

SECTION 05The Recommended Path

Learn HTML/CSS and basic programming first, start Git in week one, and begin PHP by week two or three. This is the fastest path to a real portfolio.

Step 1 — HTML + CSS (1-2 weeks)
  • Basic tags, forms, layout

Step 2 — Git + GitHub (1 week)
  • Repo, commit, push, pull
  • Create a GitHub profile

Step 3 — PHP basics (3-4 weeks)
  • Variables, arrays, functions
  • Forms, sessions, files

Step 4 — PHP + MySQL (2-3 weeks)
  • Connect to a database
  • Build a CRUD app

Step 5 — Framework (Laravel) (4-6 weeks)
  • Build a real project
  • Deploy + document on GitHub

Week 1   : HTML + CSS basics
Week 2   : Git + GitHub
Week 3-6 : PHP basics
Week 7-8 : PHP + MySQL project
Week 9+  : Laravel or a bigger project

Every week: commit your code to GitHub.

SECTION 06How They Work Together

In real projects, you use Git and GitHub to save, share, and back up your PHP code. Every PHP developer uses Git — this is how teams collaborate.

• PHP — writes the backend, handles requests, talks to a database.
• Git — saves every change you make to your PHP files.
• GitHub — hosts the code so teammates and hiring managers can see it.
• Branches — let you build new features without breaking the working app.
• Pull requests — how teams review each other's PHP code before merging.

SECTION 07Test yourself — Git vs PHP

SECTION 08Frequently asked questions

SECTION 09Related reads