```{note}

Going forward, it is assumed that you have an Anaconda environment up and running.

You may want to [create a new conda environment](https://conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/tasks/manage-environments.html#creating-an-environment-with-commands) if you haven't done so already.

You may want to [create a new conda environment](https://docs.conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/tasks/manage-environments.html#creating-an-environment-with-commands) if you haven't done so already.

```

## Working with Python files

This section will familiarize you with git and GitHub.

[Git](http://git-scm.com/) is a *version control system* --- a piece of software used to manage digital projects such as code libraries.

[Git](https://git-scm.com/) is a *version control system* --- a piece of software used to manage digital projects such as code libraries.

In many cases, the associated collections of files --- called *repositories* --- are stored on [GitHub](https://github.com/).

GitHub is a wonderland of collaborative coding projects.

For example, it hosts many of the scientific libraries we'll be using later

on, such as [this one](https://github.com/pydata/pandas).

on, such as [this one](https://github.com/pandas-dev/pandas).

Git is the underlying software used to manage these projects.

There are two main flavors of Git

1. the plain vanilla [command line Git](http://git-scm.com/downloads) version

1. the plain vanilla [command line Git](https://git-scm.com/downloads) version

2. the various point-and-click GUI versions

* See, for example, the [GitHub version](https://desktop.github.com/) or Git GUI integrated into your IDE.

* See, for example, the [GitHub version](https://github.com/apps/desktop) or Git GUI integrated into your IDE.

In case you already haven't, try

1. Look into 'forking' GitHub repositories (forking means making your own copy of a GitHub repository, stored on GitHub).

1. Fork [QuantEcon.py](https://github.com/QuantEcon/QuantEcon.py).

1. Clone your fork to some local directory, make edits, commit them, and push them back up to your forked GitHub repo.

1. If you made a valuable improvement, send us a [pull request](https://help.github.com/articles/about-pull-requests/)!

1. If you made a valuable improvement, send us a [pull request](https://docs.github.com/en/pull-requests/collaborating-with-pull-requests/proposing-changes-to-your-work-with-pull-requests/about-pull-requests)!

For reading on these and other topics, try

* [The official Git documentation](http://git-scm.com/doc).

* [The official Git documentation](https://git-scm.com/doc).

* Reading through the docs on [GitHub](https://docs.github.com/en).

* [Pro Git Book](http://git-scm.com/book) by Scott Chacon and Ben Straub.

* [Pro Git Book](https://git-scm.com/book) by Scott Chacon and Ben Straub.

* One of the thousands of Git tutorials on the Net.