Code

Technical documentation inevitably means pasting in code, and although the code syntax of Markdown takes only two lines of markers, it drags along a whole set of details — language identifiers, indentation, escaping, and so on.

This chapter covers three levels: inline code, fenced code blocks, and syntax highlighting. A fenced code block is wrapped in three backticks and can carry a language identifier to enable highlighting; indented code blocks are not supported by some renderers and easily collide with the indentation used by lists. Nested code blocks are covered as well — for example, how to display Markdown source that itself contains backticks.

Code blocks are the bulk of technical documentation, so once this chapter is right, the way your sample code is presented will not need to be reworked again and again.