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GitHub vs NuGet: What are the differences?
Introduction
GitHub and NuGet are both popular platforms used in software development. However, they serve different purposes and have distinct features. Understanding the key differences between GitHub and NuGet can help developers choose the right platform for their specific needs.
1. Repository Management: GitHub is primarily focused on providing a platform for hosting and managing repositories. It offers features such as version control, issue tracking, pull requests, and code collaboration. On the other hand, NuGet is a package manager specifically designed for distributing and managing software packages. It allows developers to publish, consume, and manage packages centrally.
2. Versioning and Dependency Management: GitHub provides robust version control functionality, allowing developers to track changes made to code over time. It also enables teams to manage and resolve conflicts during code collaboration. In contrast, NuGet focuses on versioning and dependency management for software packages. It allows developers to specify package dependencies and automatically resolves them during package installation.
3. Collaboration and Community: GitHub has a strong focus on collaboration and fostering a community of developers. It provides features like pull requests, code reviews, and discussions where developers can contribute to projects. Additionally, GitHub hosts a vast collection of open-source projects that developers can contribute to. NuGet, on the other hand, is more oriented towards package consumption rather than collaboration. It does not offer the same level of social interaction and community engagement as GitHub.
4. Publishing and Distribution: One of the key differences between GitHub and NuGet is the way they handle package publishing and distribution. While GitHub allows developers to publish code repositories, NuGet is specifically designed for publishing packages. NuGet provides a centralized repository where developers can publish their packages, making it easier for others to discover and consume them.
5. Package Types and Ecosystem: GitHub is used for managing a wide range of project types, including libraries, frameworks, applications, and documentation. It is not strictly limited to packaging and distribution. On the other hand, NuGet is focused specifically on software packages, including libraries, tools, and other dependencies. NuGet provides a dedicated ecosystem for package discovery, making it easier for developers to find and consume packages.
6. Integration and Automation: GitHub offers extensive integration capabilities with various CI/CD tools and development workflows. It supports integrations with popular services like Jenkins, Travis CI, and Azure Pipelines, allowing developers to automate their build and deployment processes. On the other hand, NuGet is primarily integrated with development tools like Visual Studio and MSBuild, providing seamless package management within the development environment.
In summary, GitHub is a repository management platform with strong collaboration features, while NuGet is a package manager focused on versioning, distribution, and dependency management. GitHub has a broader focus on project management and social interaction, while NuGet is designed specifically for package publishing and consumption.
Do you review your Pull/Merge Request before assigning Reviewers?
If you work in a team opening a Pull Request (or Merge Request) looks appropriate. However, have you ever thought about opening a Pull/Merge Request when working by yourself? Here's a checklist of things you can review in your own:
- Pick the correct target branch
- Make Drafts explicit
- Name things properly
- Ask help for tools
- Remove the noise
- Fetch necessary data
- Understand Mergeability
- Pass the message
- Add screenshots
- Be found in the future
- Comment inline in your changes
Read the blog post for more detailed explanation for each item :D
What else do you review before asking for code review?
Using an inclusive language is crucial for fostering a diverse culture. Git has changed the naming conventions to be more language-inclusive, and so you should change. Our development tools, like GitHub and GitLab, already supports the change.
SourceLevel deals very nicely with repositories that changed the master branch to a more appropriate word. Besides, you can use the grep linter the look for exclusive terms contained in the source code.
As the inclusive language gap may happen in other aspects of our lives, have you already thought about them?
One of the magic tricks git performs is the ability to rewrite log history. You can do it in many ways, but git rebase -i
is the one I most use. With this command, It’s possible to switch commits order, remove a commit, squash two or more commits, or edit, for instance.
It’s particularly useful to run it before opening a pull request. It allows developers to “clean up” the mess and organize commits before submitting to review. If you follow the practice 3 and 4, then the list of commits should look very similar to a task list. It should reveal the rationale you had, telling the story of how you end up with that final code.
Out of most of the VCS solutions out there, we found Gitlab was the most feature complete with a free community edition. Their DevSecops offering is also a very robust solution. Gitlab CI/CD was quite easy to setup and the direct integration with your VCS + CI/CD is also a bonus. Out of the box integration with major cloud providers, alerting through instant messages etc. are all extremely convenient. We push our CI/CD updates to MS Teams.
Gitlab as A LOT of features that GitHub and Azure DevOps are missing. Even if both GH and Azure are backed by Microsoft, GitLab being open source has a faster upgrade rate and the hosted by gitlab.com solution seems more appealing than anything else! Quick win: the UI is way better and the Pipeline is way easier to setup on GitLab!
At DeployPlace we use self-hosted GitLab, we have chosen GitLab as most of us are familiar with it. We are happy with all features GitLab provides, I can’t imagine our life without integrated GitLab CI. Another important feature for us is integrated code review tool, we use it every day, we use merge requests, code reviews, branching. To be honest, most of us have GitHub accounts as well, we like to contribute in open source, and we want to be a part of the tech community, but lack of solutions from GitHub in the area of CI doesn’t let us chose it for our projects.
Pros of GitHub
- Open source friendly1.8K
- Easy source control1.5K
- Nice UI1.3K
- Great for team collaboration1.1K
- Easy setup868
- Issue tracker504
- Great community487
- Remote team collaboration483
- Great way to share449
- Pull request and features planning442
- Just works147
- Integrated in many tools132
- Free Public Repos122
- Github Gists116
- Github pages113
- Easy to find repos83
- Open source62
- Easy to find projects60
- It's free60
- Network effect56
- Extensive API49
- Organizations43
- Branching42
- Developer Profiles34
- Git Powered Wikis32
- Great for collaboration30
- It's fun24
- Clean interface and good integrations23
- Community SDK involvement22
- Learn from others source code20
- Because: Git16
- It integrates directly with Azure14
- Standard in Open Source collab10
- Newsfeed10
- Fast8
- Beautiful user experience8
- It integrates directly with Hipchat8
- Easy to discover new code libraries7
- It's awesome6
- Smooth integration6
- Cloud SCM6
- Nice API6
- Graphs6
- Integrations6
- Hands down best online Git service available5
- Reliable5
- Quick Onboarding5
- CI Integration5
- Remarkable uptime5
- Security options4
- Loved by developers4
- Uses GIT4
- Free HTML hosting4
- Easy to use and collaborate with others4
- Version Control4
- Simple but powerful4
- Unlimited Public Repos at no cost4
- Nice to use3
- IAM3
- Ci3
- Easy deployment via SSH3
- Free private repos2
- Good tools support2
- All in one development service2
- Never dethroned2
- Easy source control and everything is backed up2
- Issues tracker2
- Self Hosted2
- IAM integration2
- Very Easy to Use2
- Easy to use2
- Leads the copycats2
- Free HTML hostings2
- Easy and efficient maintainance of the projects2
- Beautiful2
- Dasf1
- Profound1
Pros of NuGet
- Best package (and maybe only 1) management for .NET0
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Cons of GitHub
- Owned by micrcosoft55
- Expensive for lone developers that want private repos38
- Relatively slow product/feature release cadence15
- API scoping could be better10
- Only 3 collaborators for private repos9
- Limited featureset for issue management4
- Does not have a graph for showing history like git lens3
- GitHub Packages does not support SNAPSHOT versions2
- No multilingual interface1
- Takes a long time to commit1
- Expensive1