Lynda.com is now LinkedIn Learning!

To access Lynda.com courses again, please join LinkedIn Learning

All the same Lynda.com content you know and love

Plus, personalized course recommendations tailored just for you

All the same access to your Lynda learning history and certifications

Try LinkedIn Learning for free
Questions? Visit our help center.
Skip navigation
Arrow

  Lynda.com is now LinkedIn Learning · Same content. Same instructors. New platform.

 Start My Free Month

What is a programming language?

What is a programming language?: Programming Foundations: Fundamentals (2011)
What is a programming language?: Programming Foundations: Fundamentals (2011)

In this video in the Developer and Programming Foundations series, you'll walk through the basics of what a programming language is, why some are more popular than others, and why there are so many languages to begin with. From Java to Ruby, by the end of the video you will have a better understanding of why a variety of programming languages exist, and what role they play in the programming world.

Resume Transcript Auto-Scroll
Author
Skill Level Beginner
4h 47m
Duration
8,758,004
Views
Show More Show Less

Q: Using TextEdit with Mac OS 10.9 Mavericks? 

A: If you're using the built-in TextEdit program in Mavericks to write your first examples and your code doesn't seem to be working, here's one reason why: by default, "smart quotes" are now turned on in TextEdit Preferences.
 
This is where TextEdit will automatically change pairs of double quotes to "smart quotes" - where the opening and closing quote are different, like a 66 and 99.
 
While this is fine for human eyes, programming languages don't want this - when writing code, they need to be the plain, generic straight-up-and-down quotes.
 
So make sure that in TextEdit > Preferences, that "Smart quotes" are unchecked.
 
Important! Whenever you make a change to TextEdit preferences, make sure to then completely quit out of the program (Command-Q or using TextEdit > Quit TextEdit) and then re-open it, as changes won't take effect on documents you already have open.
 
However, we're not finished - just because you've changed the preferences, it does **not** change any *existing* smart quotes back to "regular" quotes - it just doesn't add new ones - so make sure to go through your files for any time you wrote quotes and TextEdit may have changed them to smart quotes - look in both the JavaScript, and your HTML too, and compare to the downloadable exercise files if necessary.
 
If that sounds like a bit of a chore, I recommend just downloading a code editor like Sublime Text (www.sublimetext.com) or TextMate (www.macromates.com) and using that instead of TextEdit - it's only a matter of time before you'd move away from TextEdit anyway - we only used it in the course because it was built-in and a quick way to get started, but it's now become more of a inconvenience than it was before.

Skills covered in this course
Developer Programming Foundations

Continue Assessment

You started this assessment previously and didn't complete it. You can pick up where you left off, or start over.

Start My Free Month

Start your free month on LinkedIn Learning, which now features 100% of Lynda.com courses. Develop in-demand skills with access to thousands of expert-led courses on business, tech and creative topics.

Start My Free Month

You are now leaving Lynda.com and will be automatically redirected to LinkedIn Learning to access your learning content.