In-class Exercise (Meeting 03): Terminal + Codespaces + Pull Request

Goal

By the end of this exercise, you will be able to:

  • navigate a project using basic terminal commands;
  • create a Markdown file in the correct folder;
  • commit and push changes to your own branch;
  • open a Pull Request (PR) to submit your work.

Setup (Codespaces)

  1. Open the course repo on GitHub: kltng/eastd143b
  2. Click Code → Codespaces → Create codespace on 2026
  3. In Codespaces, open the Terminal.

Part A — Basic terminal commands (practice)

Run these commands and briefly note what each one shows.

  1. Where am I?
pwd
  1. What files/folders are here?
ls
  1. Move into a folder and list again:
cd in-class
ls
  1. Move back to the repo root:
cd ..
pwd
  1. Find the Meeting 03 in-class folder:
ls in-class
ls in-class/meeting_03

If in-class/meeting_03 does not exist, create it:

mkdir -p in-class/meeting_03

Part B — Create your submission file

Create a Markdown file inside in-class/meeting_03/.

File name format: use your initials in the format:

  • t_ab.md

Example name: t_kl.md

Create the file (choose one method):

Method 1 (quick, terminal):

cat > in-class/meeting_03/t_ab.md <<'MD'
# Meeting 03 — Terminal practice

## 1) Three commands I learned today
-
-
-

## 2) One thing that confused me
-

## 3) One question for next class
-
MD

Method 2 (editor): create the file in the file explorer and type the same content.

Part C — Git workflow (branch → commit → push → PR)

  1. Confirm you are on the 2026 branch:
git status
git branch --show-current
  1. Create your own branch:
git checkout -b meeting03/t_ab
  1. Check what changed:
git status
git diff
  1. Stage + commit:
git add in-class/meeting_03/t_ab.md
git commit -m "Add Meeting 03 in-class submission (t_ab)"
  1. Push your branch:
git push -u origin meeting03/t_ab
  1. Open a Pull Request:
  • In GitHub, click Compare & pull request
  • Base branch: 2026
  • Title: Meeting 03 submission: t_ab
  • Submit the PR

Submission checklist