Tech Bloggers: Punctuation Goes Inside Quotation Marks
One of the biggest differences between writing code for machines and writing English-language text for humans in the United States is the use of quotation marks. When you’re programming a computer a set of double quotation marks indicates a string, which is an atomic entity. As such, punctuation goes outside the quotes to delimit lists and whatnot. #include <stdlib.h> string animals[4] = {“Goat”,”Sheep”,”Cow”,”Platypus”}; This is not how it works when you’re writing in the English language. Periods and commas always go inside the double quotation marks in English. Incorrectly punctuated sarcasm: We all know how that piece of software “works”. Correctly punctuated sarcasm: We all know how that piece of software “works.” Incorrect: Her number is “867-5309”. Correct: Her number …