Contents of this page:

• Table of features
• Bold
• Italics
• Round Brackets
• Backticks
• Quotation Marks
• Headings
• Lists
• Citations
• Commonly Used Reserved Words

Bold is formatted using **double asterisks**. It is used to help readers with their navigation around an interface or workspace. This includes:

• Menu items (e.g. in a dropdown)
• Tab or window names
• Column headings (e.g. in a spreadsheet)
• Labelled categories (e.g. in a dataset)

Italics are formatted using *single asterisks* or _single underscore_. They are used primarily to indicate a keystroke or button which generates an action (e.g. Enter, Run).

They are also used for book titles, plays, films, TV programmes, paintings, songs, albums.

Round Brackets are used to follow a word with its direct translation. They can be used both to give a translation from the original language, or the translated language.

• OR (TR)
• TR (OR)

They can also be used to introduce an abbreviation. The first time any abbreviation is introduced, it is first written in its Full Capitalised Form, followed by the abbreviation in brackets (FCF).

`Backticks` are used to indicate any parts of the text which are code, to distinguish them clearly from the prose.

• Multi-line code blocks should be enclosed in three backticks

Multi-line code blocks should be enclosed in three backticks

• Inline code can be enclosed in single backticks.

They are also used to indicate:

• Variables (e.g. num).
• Functions (e.g. createFile)
• Filenames, including their extension (e.g. typographical-guidelines.md).
• File extensions on their own (e.g. .pdf).
• Reserved Words which are part of a programming language (e.g. else, for (R); import, False (Python 3); arguments, export (Javascript).

• "Double quotation marks" are used for speech or quotes, but also for titles of academic articles in a citation.
• 'Single quotation marks' are used to highlight coined terms or technical words, ideally followed by an explanation.
• French « guillemets » (chevrons) are used for any and all instances of quotation marks in French. «  and  » can be written using the HTML codes «  for a left-pointing guillemet and  » for a right-pointing guillemet.

Straight double quotation marks interfere with the liquid syntax. Use backslash \ followed by straight double quotation marks or single quotation marks, if needed in figure captions. Ideally, avoid altogether in the alt-text.

• Largest heading size: ## Header 2
• Smallest heading size: #### Header 4

Headings should never contain inline code font or style formatting such as bold, italic, or code font.

Typically, we use numbered lists and bulleted lists. List items are sentence-capped. List items should be treated as separate items and should not be strung together with punctuation or conjunctions.

For example:

• Here is an item
• Here is another item
• Here is the final item

Or:

1. Here is an item
2. Here is another item
3. Here is the final item

We use the The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition for all our citations.

• Book and journal titles are in italics, whereas article names are in double quotation marks (or « guillemets » in French).
• Where references to other Programming Historian lesson titles are made within the text (but in a citation), these should formatted as links without quotation marks around the title (e.g. "see Programming Historian’s excellent article on Computer Vision for the Humanities).

A list of reserved words in common programming languages include:

abstract, arguments, await, Boolean, break, byte, case, catch, char, class, const, continue, debugger, default, delete, do, double, else, enum, eval, export, extends, false, final, finally, float, for, function, goto, if, implements, import, in, instanceof, int, interface, let, long, native, new, null, package, private, protected, public, return, short, static, super, switch, synchronized, this, throw, throws, transient, true, try, typeof, var, void, volatile, while, with, yield.

and, as, assert, break, class, continue, def, del, elif, else, except, exec, finally, for, from, global, if, import, in, is, lambda, not, or, pass, print, raise, return, try, while, with, yield.

and, as, assert, break, class, continue, def, del, elif, else, except, False, finally, for, from, global, if, import, in, is, lambda, nonlocal, None, not, or, pass, raise, return, True, try, while, with, yield.

break, else, for, FALSE, function, if, in, Inf, NA, NA_character_, NA_complex_, NA_integer_, NA_real_, NaN, next, NULL, repeat, TRUE, while.