Developer Onboarding: Essential Foundations

Mastering collaboration and design tools is the first step toward building high-quality software. This guide explores three core pillars: project documentation, visual planning, and version control

Picture of a how look a raw ReadMe file and the client online version

What is the purpose of a ReadMe file

A README file serves as your repository's welcome mat. It provides crucial information about the project's purpose, functionality, and how to use it. Whether you're collaborating with a team or sharing your code with the world, having clear and concise documentation in your README can save countless hours of confusion and frustration.

You can add a README file to a repository to communicate important information about your project. A README, along with a repository license, citation file, contribution guidelines, and a code of conduct, communicates expectations for your project and helps you manage contributions.

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What is a Wireframe

Wireframes can help us create a solid foundation for the product design, but what do they look like? What should be included? A wireframe is a visual diagram that outlines the skeletal framework of a website, app, or other digital product. Sometimes known as a page schematic or screen blueprint, it shows how elements relate to each other and how they’re structured. By using a wireframe tool to build a blueprint, designers can create consistent layouts that meet user needs.

Wireframing is a top-level process. User experience (UX) designers often use it to map out the design and layout of their work without going into too much detail. It’s the first stage of the design process before it is fleshed out to add more detail. As such, a wireframe primarily focuses on functionalities and intended behaviors, but not color schemes or final stylistic choices. A wireframe outlines the structure of your page or mobile app. It helps designers figure out where certain elements should live and how the overall design will look.

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What is Git Branches

Nearly every VCS has some form of branching support. Branching means you diverge from the main line of development and continue to do work without messing with that main line. In many VCS tools, this is a somewhat expensive process, often requiring you to create a new copy of your source code directory, which can take a long time for large projects.

Some people refer to Git’s branching model as its “killer feature,” and it certainly sets Git apart in the VCS community. Why is it so special? The way Git branches is incredibly lightweight, making branching operations nearly instantaneous, and switching back and forth between branches generally just as fast. Unlike many other VCSs, Git encourages workflows that branch and merge often, even multiple times in a day. Understanding and mastering this feature gives you a powerful and unique tool and can entirely change the way that you develop.

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