diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6029bf0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# this is a comment
+
+# can we ignore any file without an extension?
+
+copy
+out.txt
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/git/ignore_compiled.txt b/git/ignore_compiled.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a6f26d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/git/ignore_compiled.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+To make git ignore compiled C programs, we put this in the git ignore.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/git/start_ignoring_me.txt b/git/start_ignoring_me.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..82f4b0b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/git/start_ignoring_me.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+To make git ignore things, we need a gitignore.
+Here is how to get started with that.
+
+A tool for creating gitignore things: https://www.toptal.com/developers/gitignore/
+
+Of course, there is official documentation for git ignore: https://git-scm.com/docs/gitignore
+