GitHub

GitHub is a web-based platform for version control and collaboration, built around Git. It provides hosting for software development projects and offers distributed version control, issue tracking, review, and continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) capabilities.

It was founded in 2008 by Tom Preston-Werner, Chris Wanstrath, PJ Hyett, and Scott Chacon. It gained rapid adoption in the software community and became a central hub for open-source projects. In 2018, Microsoft acquired GitHub, and it operates as a subsidiary while continuing to host both public and private repositories. GitHub.com serves as the flagship site, with GitHub Enterprise Server available for on-premises deployments.

Core features include repositories for code, forking and branching for experimentation, pull requests for code review, issues, and project management tools. It offers GitHub Actions for CI/CD, Packages for hosting binaries, and GitHub Pages for static sites. Security features include code scanning, secret scanning, and Dependabot alerts and pull requests to update dependencies. The platform provides automation, API access, webhooks, and a large marketplace of apps and actions.

Usage and impact: GitHub is widely used by individual developers, startups, and large organizations. It supports open-source collaboration by enabling contributions from diverse participants, with licensing options and contributor practices. The platform encourages collaborative coding through profiles, stars, and followers, and supports enterprise governance options via GitHub Enterprise.