Conventions Used in This Book

The following conventions are used in this book:

Italic

Used for file and folder names, example URLs, and new terms when they are defined

Constant width

Used for code examples and the names of variables, handlers, and commands

Constant width italic

Used for placeholders in code, where the programmer would supply the actual name of something

Constant width bold

Used in code examples, for user input from the command line; often seen in conjunction with $, which symbolizes the shell prompt

-- code comment in italic

Used in code examples, for my comments to the reader about the code or its effect

-- code comment in bold

Used in code examples, to represent the result (output) of executing the line

vertical bar |

Used in syntax templates to indicate alternatives

[square brackets]

Used in syntax templates to indicate that something is optional

¬

This character indicates a line of code that continues; these lines will be unbroken in your code but were too long to fit on the printed pages of this book.

This icon represents a tip relating to the nearby text.

This icon represents a warning relating to the nearby text.