Welcome to the DataBytes organization on GitHub! We're excited to have you here contributing to our various repositories. To ensure smooth collaboration and maintain a high quality of code, we have established some guidelines and best practices that we expect all members to follow.

A little intro to DataBytes: DataBytes Corporation is dedicated to harnessing the power of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, data science, and digital finance to tackle worldwide issues. With a multidisciplinary focus spanning environmental sustainability, personalized education, fintech, and more, our corporation is committed to delivering groundbreaking solutions that create a positive and lasting impact.

This trimester we are running 3 projects:

• DolFin FinTech (led by Denica Hope, Gimsara Kenula Elgiriyage, Heera Mohanadas & Junkai Jiang)
• Project Echo (led by Dipansh Garg & Sizhe Wang)
• New Discovery Project (led by Scott West, Jifeng Chen, Brett Youngman & Said Abdullah)

The following projects are not running this trimester:

• Discount Mate
• Company Website

• Locking main branch: The main branch is the production-ready branch of our repositories. As such, it is to be locked to prevent accidental pushes and merges. If you need to make changes to the main branch, create a pull request. Navigate to the repository settings, and under the "Branches" tab, enable "Require pull request reviews before merging" and "Require status checks to pass before merging". This will prevent anyone from pushing directly to the main branch and ensure that changes are made via pull requests.

• Creating pull and merge requests: Any changes to our repositories must be made via a pull request. This includes code changes, documentation updates, and adding or removing files. The pull request should be reviewed by at least one other team member before being merged. To create a pull request, navigate to the repository on GitHub, click on the "Pull requests" tab, and then click the "New pull request" button. Fill out the necessary information, including the branch you're merging from and the branch you're merging into. Make sure to assign at least one other team member as a reviewer.

• Code review by at least 1 team member before merging: To ensure the quality of code, every pull request must be reviewed by at least one other team member. This ensures that code is readable, maintainable, and free of bugs before it is merged. When a pull request is submitted, assign at least one team member as a reviewer. This person will be responsible for reviewing the code changes and either approving or requesting changes before the pull request can be merged.

• Creating branches: When working on a new feature or bug fix, create a new branch. This branch should have a descriptive name that explains what it does. Once the work is complete, create a pull request to merge the branch into the main branch. When creating a branch, make sure to give it a descriptive name that explains what it does. To create a branch, navigate to the repository on GitHub, click on the "Branches" tab, and then click the "New branch" button. Give the branch a name and make sure to create it off of the main branch.

• Limiting the number of admins per repo: To ensure that access to our repositories is limited to those who truly need it, we limit the number of admins per repo. If you need admin access to a repo, please speak to the repo owner. To limit the number of admins per repo, navigate to the repository settings, click on the "Manage access" tab, and then add team members as needed. Make sure to only give admin access to those who truly need it.

Best Practices

• Commit frequently: Committing frequently helps track changes and makes it easier to revert changes if needed.
• Write clear commit messages: Commit messages should be clear and descriptive. They should explain what the commit does and why it was made.
• Use branches: Creating branches helps keep the main branch clean and makes it easier to manage changes.
• Use issues: Issues are a great way to keep track of bugs and feature requests. Use them to organize work and track progress.
• Keep documentation up-to-date: Documentation should be updated whenever code changes are made. This helps keep the codebase readable and maintainable.
• Be responsive: Respond to pull requests and issues in a timely manner. This helps keep the project moving forward and ensures that everyone is on the same page.

Thank you for contributing to DataBytes! Let's build some great things together.