Git and GitHub or Postman First: What Beginners Should Pick

# First steps with Git and GitHub
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"

mkdir api-practice && cd api-practice
git init
echo "# API practice" > README.md
git add README.md
git commit -m "Add README"

# After creating an empty repo on GitHub:
git branch -M main
git remote add origin https://github.com/your-username/api-practice.git
git push -u origin main

A first request in Postman

Method:  GET
URL:     https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users/1

Click Send. You should see:
- Status: 200 OK
- Body: JSON with id, name, email, address

Try next:
1. Change the URL to /users/999 and note the status
2. Send a POST to /posts with a JSON body
3. Save both requests into a collection called "Practice"

(jsonplaceholder is a free public fake API for practice.)

// Postman "Tests" tab (JavaScript) for GET /users/1
pm.test("Status code is 200", function () {
    pm.response.to.have.status(200);
});

pm.test("Response time is under 1000 ms", function () {
    pm.expect(pm.response.responseTime).to.be.below(1000);
});

pm.test("User has an id and an email", function () {
    const user = pm.response.json();
    pm.expect(user.id).to.eql(1);
    pm.expect(user.email).to.include("@");
});

HTTP status codes every beginner should know

200 OK                  request worked
201 Created             new resource created (POST)
204 No Content          worked, nothing to return
400 Bad Request         input is wrong
401 Unauthorized        not logged in / no valid token
403 Forbidden           logged in, but not allowed
404 Not Found           resource does not exist
500 Internal Server Error  server-side failure

# Run an exported Postman collection from the command line
# (Newman is Postman's command-line collection runner)
npm install -g newman

newman run Practice.postman_collection.json \
  -e Practice.postman_environment.json

# Commit the collection so the team can reuse it
git add Practice.postman_collection.json Practice.postman_environment.json
git commit -m "Add practice API collection with tests"
git push

Combined project repo checklist

[ ] README: what API, how to run tests
[ ] Exported collection (.json) in the repo
[ ] Environment file without real secrets
[ ] At least 10 requests, each with tests
[ ] Negative cases: 400, 401, 404
[ ] Commits with clear messages
[ ] One pull request merged from a feature branch

Four-Week Plan

Week  Git focus               Postman focus          Done?
1     commit, log, diff       GET, read JSON         Y / N
2     branch, merge           POST/PUT/DELETE        Y / N
3     GitHub, pull requests   tests, variables       Y / N
4     clean history           collection + Newman    Y / N

API Test Sheet

Endpoint        Method  Case                  Expected
/users/1        GET     valid id              200, id = 1
/users/999      GET     missing id            404
/posts          POST    valid body            201, id returned
/posts          POST    empty body            400 (if API validates)
/posts/1        DELETE  existing post         200 or 204

Good commit messages

Format: <verb> <what> (short, present tense)

Good:
- Add tests for GET /users
- Fix wrong status check in login test
- Update README with run steps

Avoid:
- "changes"
- "final final v2"
- "fixed stuff"