you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 42 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (14 children)

While we're on Greek: the Greeks don't use a standard "?" as a question mark. They use ";" which look almost identical to a semicolon, but isn't. You can see the difference when they're side by side. (Greek semicolons first)

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

But, apparently in fixed-width fonts they can look identical:

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Where this could be really interesting is code, where someone might cause a lot of confusion by using something that appears to be a semicolon but which the language treats as just another non-special character.

Here's how this post looks for me:

semicolon or greek question mark; depends on your font

  • source
  • hideshow 14 child comments
  • [–] 19 points 5 months ago (4 children)

    I had no idea, learning coding is probably very funny for little while.

    print("hello world")?

    Computer: no I don't think I will.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 6 points 5 months ago (3 children)

    Javascript would have no problem with it. Semicolons are already kinda optional in there, and having tons of question marks in your code is also pretty normal. ie:

    input?.map(item => !!item?.name ? item : item?.toString() ?? "New Item")

    Just means: If the variable named "input" has a function named .map(), which is usually the case if it's an array, you go through that array and transform its elements in the following way:

    • is your element an object that has the property "name" and that property isn't undefined, null or 0? (the "!!" is a double negation that would force undefined, null and 0 to evaluate to false through type coercion)?

    • if yes ( the syntax " ___ ? ___ : ___ " is a shorthand for an if-else statement) then just add that whole item to your output array.

    • if not, try to call the .toString() function on your item. If that works then that's your result, if not then your output is the string "New Item" ( the "??" is called the nullish coalescing operator - if the left side of the ?? evaluates to undefined or null, it takes the right--hand side value instead. The "?." part is called optional chaining and will evaluate to undefined if you try to call a function that doesn't exist on that type)

    • oh yeah, and if input isnt an array to begin with and doesn't have a .map() function? We just do nothing and move on without complaining. JS truly does not give a fuck.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 9 points 5 months ago* (2 children)

    Same thing on my PC:

    If anything, the second row looks a bit easier to distinguish here. I guess it's the opposite on mobile.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments