xpresslab

XpressLab - Express Yourself with Experiential Learning

XpressLab Overview

XpressLab is an innovative platform designed to empower individuals to express themselves and showcase their skills through active participation on GitHub. We believe in the power of open collaboration and the opportunities it brings for personal and professional growth. By following our carefully crafted instructions and guidelines, individuals can contribute their unique talents, ideas, and projects on GitHub. This allows you to learn while making an impact across any repository on all of Github!

At XpressLab, we provide a platform where talented individuals have the chance to shine and stand out from the crowd. Our team carefully reviews and evaluates the contributions made by participants, identifying exceptional candidates who demonstrate remarkable skills, creativity, and dedication.

Once selected, we offer these talented individuals the opportunity to undergo specialized training to further enhance their abilities and refine their craft. Our training programs are designed to equip individuals with the necessary tools, knowledge, and industry insights to excel in their chosen field.

One of our core objectives at XpressLab is to enable individuals to unlock their full potential and achieve financial success. Through our platform, we not only nurture talent but also guide individuals towards lucrative opportunities. We aim to connect these skilled individuals with organizations and companies that recognize their talent, providing them with rewarding career placements that match their skills and aspirations.

Join XpressLab today and embark on a journey of self-expression, skill development, and financial prosperity. Together, we can shape individuals to become successful contributors in the industry, leveraging their unique talents to make a significant impact while enjoying the financial rewards that come with their hard work and dedication.

Git for Windows

Website: Git for Windows
Git for Windows is a powerful and widely used version control system designed to help developers track changes to their code and collaborate effectively on software projects. It provides a command-line interface and a set of tools specifically optimized for Windows operating systems. With Git for Windows, developers can easily create repositories, manage branches, commit changes, and synchronize their code with remote repositories. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced developer, Git for Windows offers a reliable and efficient way to track and manage your code, enabling seamless collaboration and ensuring the integrity of your projects.

Introduction to Github for Desktop

website: GitHub for Desktop
GitHub Desktop is a user-friendly application that simplifies the process of working with Git repositories on your computer. By visiting the official GitHub Desktop website and downloading the installer, you can quickly set up the application. Once installed, GitHub Desktop provides an intuitive interface for managing repositories, creating branches, making code changes, and collaborating with others through pull requests. It offers a visual and streamlined approach to version control, making it accessible to developers of all experience levels.

Introduction to GitHub

If this is your first time ever using GitHub, then you might want to develop some beginner skills at https://skills.github.com/. Though, we will try to walk you through the following instructions:

Want Training?

If you like to learn and collaborate together, then join us at https://curiosityhive.org

1. Clear Your Workspace

  1. Open a new tab to be used for research on your favorite Search Engine (Tab 1)
  2. Close All Other Tabs and all other Apps except this Guide (Tab 2)

    Note Make sure you learn the Ctrl-Click command when you click links. Ctrl-Click will be used throughout this guide.

2. Search for Open Issues

Look through the following Organization’s Issues below by hitting (Ctrl-Click) on the link, based upon your area of interest.

3. Find an Issue that Matches Your Interest

Continue browsing the Issues Tab (Tab 3) to find an issue suitable for your skills and interests on the newly opened tab. This chart below describes a few of our most common issue types:

4. Project Discovery

If the entire project has been put in motion well, then there will be a master Readme.md file explaining what this project is with proper links on it. Also, if the person who made the issue you chose tried really hard, then they will have supplied a lot of links and instructions right in the issue. That is usually not the case. Usually, you’re going to have to try really hard to really understand what the issue is even referring to. This means you will need to do Project Discovery to see if you will have fun and can even comprehend the issue you’ve chosen. If it doesn’t make sense, you can always comment and ask for clarification before you start an issue & ask the manager to communicate better.
To tackle Project Discovery yourself, do the following:

  1. On the Issue Page, Ctrl-Click the <> Code Button in the upper-left area of the Issue you have chosen.
  2. Right-Click the newly created GitHub Code Browser (Tab 4)
  3. Choose “Duplicate Tab” which will make a new GitHub Code Browser (Tab 5)
  4. If Possible, click the master Button and click on gh-pages in the selected options (Sometimes not available)
  5. Search the Readme.md to find out the website link.
  6. Either Ctrl-Click the Website link, or open a new tab and browse to it if it’s not clickable. (Tab 6)

5. Prepare Your Workspace

You should now have 6 Tabs total that hold together your entire workspace. Take a pause at this point to make sure you are organized with the following tabs:

  1. Search Engine
  2. This Guide
  3. GitHub Issues Page
  4. GitHub Code Browser
  5. GitHub Code Browser #2
  6. Website of Project

6. Understand the Issue

Next, you will toggle between all the tabs above multiple times so you can get a good understanding of the issue you chose and interact with the issue until the issue is fully known and comprehensive. This process is known as Requirement Engineering (RE). Here are a few common steps great engineers practice for really powerful RE.

  1. Open the Website (Tab 6)
  2. Browse around and make yourself comfortable
  3. Tab Back-and-forth between the website & the issue (Tabs 3 & 6)
  4. Use the Search Engine to research the topic if you need further help. (Tab 1)
  5. If you have questions or need clarification, then write a comment in the issue area (Tab 3)
  6. You may also want to add your links you are researching in the comment section to help others who are working on this same issue. (Tab 3)
  7. Repeat Steps 1-7 until you are extremely confident that you can move forward.

7. Start Making Changes

We will now use a trick to convert Tab 5 to a new workspace.

  1. Go to GitHub Code Browser #2 (Tab 5)
  2. Find the file you want to edit.
  3. Hit the “.” dot button on your keyboard.

    Note This will auotmatically convert this tab into a GitHub Web Editor (GWE).

  4. In the GWE, Continue editing the files you want to work on.
  5. Refer back to the issue you chose periodically to see updates and to write comments as you feel necessary as you continue to make changes.

    Warning You MUST continue to Step 8 within 2 hours, otherwise your updates might conflict with others who are working on this same issue!

8. Save Your Changes

  1. Go to the GitHub Issue Page (Tab 3)
    • Keep Note of your Issue #.
  2. Go to the GWE Area (Tab 5)
  3. Click on the Source Control Icon (or Press Ctrl-Shift-G)
  4. Type in a Short Summary in the Message field of What Changes You Made followed by Issue Number

    Example: Updated Titles for Landing Page #82

  5. Press Ctrl-Enter to Submit Changes

    Note If this is your first time saving here, then Click “Fork Repository” to Continue

  6. Press Enter to Create the New Pull Request from the Notification Bar
  7. Press Enter to Confirm Creating a Patch Branch
  8. Choose “Cancel” when asked if want to switch to the Pull Request

    Note If You have actually want to see your changes, then go ahead and choose “Switch to Pull Request”

    Then, to make further changes, you’ll need to do the following procedure:

    1. Click on the GitHub Pull Request (PR) Button
    2. Click “Create New Pull Request…”
    3. Change the “Into” Area so it is pointing you to the right branch.
    4. We usually have to change this from “main” to “gh-pages”
    5. Write a Description of what you are changing and why.
    6. Click the “Create” button to finalize your Pull Request (PR)

      The system will remember your selection, so be careful what you choose.
      You will need to return to the main branch in lower-left of screen if you do change

9. Continue Editing

After You have Saved, Repeat Steps 1-7 to continue editing and making contributions.


🔨🔨🔨 Contributing for Advanced Level

  1. Download VS Code Insider’s Edition.
  2. Choose the look you want.
  3. Sync to and from other device by signing in with your GitHub account.
  4. Click Extensions Icon on VS Code and install the following:

graph LR
    A[Visual Studio Code Insider] --> B[VS Code Insider Extension]
    A -- Extension --> C[ChatGPT GPT-4]
    A -- Extension --> D[GitHub Pull Requests and Issues]
    A -- Extension --> E[GitHub Repositories]
    A -- Extension --> F[Live Server]
    A -- Extension --> G[Live Share Extension Pack]
    A -- Extension --> H[Markdown Preview Enhanced]
    A -- Extension --> I[Remote Repositories]

  1. From your GitHub tab on your internet browser find the URL to clone.
  2. Open a Terminal on VS Code.
  3. Clone the repository.
  4. Click Allow.
  5. Authorize VS Code. It will redirect to VS Code.
  6. It will give you few options of your Repos, select one repo.
  7. Create a folder in Local Disk C named “Repo”.
  8. When doing commits, syncing should only take 5 seconds, so check your browser and authorize it.

For more information, use this link as a reference.


### Need to Make Changes to a Pull Request? Sometimes, you’ll work on an issue and you’ll be asked to make changes. No problem! Follow the below guide to easily make changes to your edits.

### 1. Prepare Your Workspace Go ahead and open all 6 Tabs like you did previously. Take a pause at this point to make sure you are organized with the following tabs:

  1. Search Engine
  2. This Guide
  3. GitHub Issues Page
  4. GitHub Code Browser
  5. GitHub Code Browser #2
  6. Website of Project

### 2. Issue Requirement Engineering Go to the GitHub Issue Page (Tab 3) and do a deeper study of Requirement Engineering (RE) by doing the following:

  1. Read the comment left by the Issue Manager.
  2. Go to any links provided in the comments and study them thoroughly.
  3. Refer back to Step 6 in the original instructions to Understand the Issue
    • Have a humble approach, knowing that you missed something.
    • Sometimes Requirements change, so the original issue may have been updated, or the manager may have changed their mind.
    • Also, your changes might’ve inspired something deeper within the issue manager and now they want to further refine this issue for a better end result
  4. Make comments and open a discussion on the issue if you feel you need further clarification before continuing.

### 3. Edit the Pull Request (PR)

  1. Ctrl-Click the Commit # on the GitHub Issue Page (Tab 3)

    Note This will be a 7 charachter link that will look something like eb81533

  2. Open this new Commit Tab (Tab 4)
  3. Hit the “.” dot button on your keyboard.

    Note This will auotmatically convert this tab into a GitHub Web Editor (GWE). You will now have Side-by-Side Editors. Red on the left is the original. Green on the right is the Updates you made.

  4. In the GWE, Continue editing the files you need to update on the right editor.
  5. Refer back to the issue you chose periodically to see updates and to write comments as you feel necessary as you continue to make changes.

    Warning You MUST continue to Step 8 within 2 hours, otherwise your updates might conflict with others who are working on this same issue!

### 4. Save Your Changes

  1. Go to the GitHub Issue Page (Tab 3)
    • Keep Note of your Issue #.
  2. Go to the GWE Area (Tab 5)
  3. Click on the Source Control Icon (or Press Ctrl-Shift-G)
  4. Type in a Short Summary in the Message field of What Changes You Made followed by Issue Number

    Example: Updated Titles for Landing Page #82

  5. Press Ctrl-Enter to Submit Changes

### 5. Continue the Discussion

  1. Go to the GitHub Issue Page (Tab 3)
  2. Make a comment, letting the team know you updated your Pull Request
  3. If any changes are needed, then Repeat Steps 1-4 until your PR is Merged.
  4. Once Merged, you can move onto another issue.

    Contributing & Earning Money

    We welcome Pull Requests from everyone, whether you are a student, a teacher, or an expert in the field. When first making a pull request, please keep it short & brief as we establish a relationship.

    :money_mouth_face: $\color{green}{Want}$ $\color{green}{to}$ $\color{green}{Make}$ $\color{green}{Money!?}$- We provide compensation for substantial contributions to our projects. Add a USDT Coin Account in your Profile Bio to be compensated.