Happy Monday, Reader! Did you know the @ symbol has been around since the 16th century? Originally used by accountants to mean "at the rate of," it became iconic with emails in 1971 when the email was invented.

Today you will learn:

• names and pronunciation of keyboard symbols

• advanced vocabulary related to syntax

And you can test your English level (B1, B2 or C1) with a quick quiz 😏

VOCABULARY

Keyboard Symbols

Symbols have different names in American and British English. For example, a hash is called a pound sign in American English - which in British English is £… confusing, right? (Learn more)

Brackets can be square [], curly {} or round (). They can also be open brackets [{( or close brackets )}].

TECH

Syntax

Firstly, let’s go over some key vocabulary related to syntax:

• case sensitive → lowercase and uppercase letters are not equal

• alphanumeric characters → a-z or 0-9

• denote → to represent something

• indentation → whitespace at the beginning of a line of code

Listen to the audio (or read the transcript) of a colleague telling you about the syntax of a new programming language they have written.

1. Which symbol is used to represent a comment?

2. What are the rules on indentation?

3. Would ‘duplication123’ be allowed as a function name? Why/why not?

4. True or False? As a variable name, AGE = Age = age

Check answers on page 2

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QUIZ

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