Editing 2954: Bracket Symbols

{{comic
| number    = 2954
| date      = July 3, 2024
| title     = Bracket Symbols
| image     = bracket_symbols_2x.png
| imagesize = 592x569px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = ’"‘”’" means "I edited this text on both my phone and my laptop before sending it"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ([{《"complicated function"》}]) - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} WAKE UP, NERDS! Come explain to me why this is funny! 

'The preliminary nerd has arrived and did his best to fix the article.' (Even though I'm not British, I thought it might be funny to reference the comic. {See what I did there?} )

Bracket symbols are meant to put around a text. This comic shows a variety of bracket symbols and Randall's description.
Here is a list of what these symbols may mean as a preliminary to a full proper explanation: (feel free to update or completely replace this) 


{| class="wikitable" 
|+Descriptions
|-
! Symbols
! Comic text
! Real use
! Explanation
|-
|()
|Regular parentheses for setting stuff aside
|Used to mark side remarks (like explanations) in regular text. Also used in mathematical expressions and programming languages to show the sequence of operations or separate other things like function arguments.
|Normal parentheses. No joke here.
|-
|[]
|Square brackets (more secure)
|Used in regular text to mark still less important remarks, like glosses, omissions, translator and editorial notes etc. In mathematics, often used for {{w|Matrix (mathematics)|matrices}} or {{w|Interval (mathematics)|closed intervals}}. Sometimes used as outer parentheses for easier visual matching in complicated expressions. In programming languages used to mark specific syntactic elements, like array indexes, lists etc.
|The sharper edges and corners may suggest these brackets hold things in more securely, so the contents is less likely to fall out. They resemble staples used to hold things in place securely.
|-
|{}
|This stuff is expensive so be careful with it
|Rarely used in normal text. In mathematics, usually used to denote {{w|Set (mathematics)|sets}}, but other usage is possible. In programming languages most often used to denote begin and end of a separate block of code, but other uses are also extant.
|All that graphical detail in the bracket, if manufactured as a physical object, would increase the production cost making it more expensive than "regular" brackets.
|-
|"" or “”
|Someone is talking
|Used to denote speech or citations in normal text. The first version is commonly used in programming languages to denote text that is not a program, such as messages displayed to the user.
|Normal quotation marks. Some languages or communities use different typographical conventions such as „German quotation marks“. See also below for British and French.
|-
|<nowiki>''</nowiki> or ‘’
|Someone British is talking
|British quotation marks. Some programming languages use the first version to denote non-program text.
|British media use these to note when people are talking.
|-
|‹› or <>
|An Animorph is talking
|Angle brackets
|Books like the series {{w|Animorphs}} or science fiction novels use these when a character is communicating nonverbally, for example via telepathy.
|-
|«»
|A French Animorph is talking
|French quotation marks. In some languages used for quotes within quotes. For quoting conventions in different languages, see [https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/formex/physical-specifications/character-encoding/use-of-quotation-marks-in-the-different-languages this document].
|These symbols are literally called French quotation marks and are used in French texts as the first-level quotes. Here Randall is mixing the SF convention described above with actual French use.
|-
|<nowiki>|</nowiki>&#124;
|I'm scared of negative numbers but these sigils will protect me
|
|Absolute indicators used in math to ensure a number is positive (ex. <nowiki>|-69| = 69</nowiki>) therefore protecting you and your equations from them. 
|-
|**, __, //
|I have a favorite monospaced font
|
|Markup symbols for text to make it *bold*, _underlined_, or /italic/.
|-
|~~
|I'm being sarcastic and I had a Tumblr account in 2014
|
|Strikethrough markup commonly used on sites like Tumblr to indicate that you don't really mean something you said. This is a somewhat archaic trend, but I still use it...
|-
|[([{()}],)]
|These Python functions are not getting along
|The square brackets denote a mutable [https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/introduction.html#lists list], the round brackets an immutable [https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/datastructures.html#tuples-and-sequences tuple] , and the curly brackets a [https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/datastructures.html#sets set]. It is valid to have nested them like this. [] could also be a slice (a bit of a list or tuple) and {} could be a [https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/datastructures.html#dictionaries dictionary], but the syntax is wrong for these. 
|Random parentheses - Spaghetti code (badly maintained or written) in programming languages including Python will often be badly organized creating a mess of indentations and brackets used to create functions or loops etc.
|-
|⌊⌋
|Help, I'm a mathematician trying to work with actual numbers and they're scary
|Mathematical symbols meaning "floor" (i.e. round down to the nearest lower integer).
|(Someone else explain the joke!)
|-
|ʃ ʅ
|Why are you trying to read my violin?
|ʃ is the {{w|Integral symbol}} which itself is derived from a {{w|Long s}}. In mathematics it is usually paired with the differential of the variable of integration (e.g., dx). A reverse integral symbol is usually not used in mathematics.
The symbols could also be a lowercase {{w|Esh (letter)}} and its reversed symbol.
|Violins are known for their characteristic {{w|F-hole}}s.
|-
|<nowiki>|⟩</nowiki>
|Don't stop here--this is quantum country
|
|This  {{w|Bra–ket notation|notation is used in quantum mechanics}} to notate a vector. This is called a ket, and the mirrored sign <nowiki>⟨|</nowiki> is called a bra. Combining them as bra-ket gives the inner product <nowiki>⟨|⟩</nowiki>.
|}
<!-- Title text -->

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Bracket Symbols

and what they mean

( ) Regular parentheses for setting stuff aside

[ ] Square brackets (more secure)

{ } This stuff is expensive so be careful with it

" " Someone is talking

' ' Someone British is talking

‹ › An Animorph is talking

« » A French Animorph is talking

| | I'm scared of negative numbers but these sigils will protect me

<nowiki>*</nowiki> * _ _ / / I have a favorite monospaced font

~ ~ I'm being sarcastic and I had a Tumblr account in 2014

[ ( [ { ( ) } ] , ) ] These Python functions are '''''not''''' getting along

⌊ ⌋ Help, I'm a mathematician trying to work with actual numbers and they're scary

ʃ ʅ Why are you trying to read my violin?

| ⟩ Don't stop here--this is quantum country

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Programming]]