I feel super dumb asking this. But what actually is and how does github (or similar sites) work? Are they all just source files one needs to manually compile? I am always confused when I look at a github page. I know some have directions but they still go way over my head sometimes. Im not a total noob but some of this stuff seems like you need to be in programming and have an IDE just to run a program.
It’s mainly a developer tool based on Git, a version control system. You know how to can go back to a previous version of a document in Google Docs for example? It’s kinda like that, but more powerful.
Github adds a whole layer around Git with issue tracking and other project management tools, as well as automation tools to name a few.
It’s mostly used to track progress and change history of source code. So when you clone a Github repo to your local machine, you essentially get a copy of the files and their entire change history along with it.
So yes, you might need to compile the source code, depending on the programming language used.