Create code sample / repo for C#-GettingStarted-Lesson 01

[dotnet]

Create code sample / repo for C#-GettingStarted-Lesson 01

[ardalis]

@martinwoodward I don't appear to have the ability to create new repositories within the dotnet org. I would like to create a separate repository for each tutorial that has all of the samples in both start and end state. The reason for this approach is so that we can easily leverage GitHub's support for zipping repos (there is no such support for zipping up a folder within a repo). Do you have any issue with me creating such a repo in the dotnet org? Would you prefer I create it somewhere else, or do you have any other concerns about this approach? Eventually there will be a number of tutorials (at least one each for C#, ASPNET, WinForms, Universal Apps, etc.), each of which would have a corresponding repo for the samples/exercises. Thanks.

[martinwoodward]

Would it make sense to have a quick call with @davidcsa, @LadyNaggaga & maybe also @BillWagner? We could jump on a Google hangout or I can schedule a Skype call if that works better?

The advantage of using repo with folders is that we get to keep stuff together and we have one place to keep up to date. Seperate repos allow for things to be very targeted and (as you say) allow for easy zip downloads (though zip downloads can be achieved by making use of GitHub's release feature or by having a quick CI build set up that creates the necessary zips and puts them into a known location in an Azure CDN so that the others places can link to the latest download for a particular tutorial.

In general, my opinion on these matters is to optimize the repo structure for development and engineering efficiency and then have a separate build process which helps with additional tutorial consumption experiences. So - don't use the zip download feature as a reason for breaking into repos but lets use a boundary which makes sense for the content as a whole (which may well still be multiple repos as someone building a website might not care as much about UWP apps for example)

[ardalis]

Sure, I think a call sometime soon would make a lot of sense. I'm open to whatever format you want to use. I'm free today or tomorrow until about 4pm Eastern Time. I'm out on Monday but am free again on Tuesday.

[ardalis]

We were thinking we might use tags or branches with the repo to indicate the start and end state of the samples. Thus, students could download tutorialname-start.zip and tutorialname-completed.zip, and both of these would "just work" if we directed them to the appropriate GitHub repo (+tag/branch) URL. If we keep the samples in the same repo as content for many different tutorials, this approach won't work, but that's not to say we couldn't still use some other technique, even if it's low-tech like checking in the zip files manually, or uploading them to a CDN somewhere.

[ardalis]

By the way, talking with @benrick we were considering if GitHub Submodules might be an option for this.
https://github.com/blog/2104-working-with-submodules