Code and Syntax Highlighting

Code blocks are part of the Markdown spec, but syntax highlighting isn't. However, many renderers -- like Github's and Markdown Here -- support syntax highlighting. Which languages are supported and how those language names should be written will vary from renderer to renderer. Markdown Here supports highlighting for dozens of languages (and not-really-languages, like diffs and HTTP headers); to see the complete list, and how to write the language names, see the highlight.js demo page.

Inline `code` has `back-ticks around` it.

Inline code has back-ticks around it.

Blocks of code are either fenced by lines with three back-ticks ```, or are indented with four spaces. I recommend only using the fenced code blocks -- they're easier and only they support syntax highlighting.

```javascript
var s = "JavaScript syntax highlighting";
alert(s);
```
 
```python
s = "Python syntax highlighting"
print s
```
 
```
No language indicated, so no syntax highlighting. 
But let's throw in a <b>tag</b>.
```

var s = "JavaScript syntax highlighting";
alert(s);

s = "Python syntax highlighting"
print s

No language indicated, so no syntax highlighting in Markdown Here (varies on Github). 
But let's throw in a <b>tag</b>.