Welcome to AST5110. This guide will help you to engage with the course exercises using GitHub in the context of a private fork. The instructions are divided into six steps, each of which corresponds to a stage in the exercise process. The steps are as follows:

Create a Private Fork of the Course Repository:

Clone the AST5110 Repository by setting up your private fork following the instructions given in creating a private fork.

Grant Access to Instructors:

1. Navigate to your private forked repository.
2. Select "Settings" and then "Manage access."
3. Click "Invite a collaborator" and enter your instructors' GitHub usernames: jumasy and a04051127.

Implement Branch Protection:

1. In "Settings," select "Branches."
2. Add a new rule under "Branch protection rules."
3. Enter main in "Branch name pattern."
4. Set the required options for pull request reviews.
5. Specify instructors as authorized for merges and push.
6. Confirm with "Create."

Engage with Exercises in a Structured Manner:

1. Issue Creation for Each Exercise:
   • Create a new issue for every exercise, providing its title and brief description.
2. Branch Creation Linked to Issues:
   • Create a separate branch for each exercise, naming it appropriately (e.g., exercise-1).
3. Working on the Exercises:
   • Exercises are located in the notebooks directory.
   • Utilize the nm_lib_ex_*.py files in the nm_lib/nm_lib directory. This file contains template functions that you are required to complete and then use within your Jupyter Notebooks.
   • Ensure to test your implementations rigorously.

Clean Up and Pull Request:

1. Jupyter Notebook Output Clearance:
   • Before committing, clear all output from the Jupyter Notebooks via "Kernel" > "Restart & Clear Output."
2. Pull Request Initiation:
   • Push your completed branch and initiate a pull request to merge into main.
   • Link this request to the corresponding issue.
   • Request a review from the instructors.

Exercise Completion upon Review:

• Address any feedback provided by the instructors.
• Merge your branch into main post-approval.
• This marks the completion of the exercise.

Reminder: Keep your main branch and any other branches like gh-pages up-to-date with the latest content from the public repository before commencing a new exercise. Use git fetch upstream, git merge upstream/main main, and git push origin main for updates.