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3. Syntax errors

Syntax error is when a grammatical rule of the computer language is broken

Example : misspelling

The simplest and most-often made mistake is to mistype a keyword for example

pint x

instead of

print x

where the 'r' is missing.

Example: missing end of statement marker

Many languages insist on a symbol to mark the end of a statement for example

print x

instead of

print x;

where a semi-colon is missing in this particular language

Example: missing bracket

This one can be quite tricky to spot as paired brackets can be many lines of code apart. For example a function needs to have its code enclosed in curly brackets { .. }, like this

function this_function() {

	print x
	do something
    do something
	do something


function nextOne() {
				...
 }               
  

Can you spot that the first function does not have an ending curly bracket?

The best way to help reduce this kind of problem is to make careful use of indenting in your source code, then the missing bracket is easier to spot.

 

Challenge see if you can find out one extra fact on this topic that we haven't already told you

Click on this link: Correcting syntax errors