What sign acts as the closing tag in JavaScript, like a period at the end of a sentence?

Hi Aaron Noble,

You tell JavaScript that you're done by using a ; sign, for example like this:

console.log('See the sign at the end of this line?');

You will soon start using separate files for JavaScript, and it will make more sense to you by then :)

Good luck!

In JavaScript, each line of code is called a statement. Not we don't actually have to use ';' to declare a statement end in most cases but we do to stop unwanted bugs occurring in our code by accident. I will show you an example of a few cases where the ';' is used:

let myVar = 0; // Variable declaration and initialisation 
let myVar; // Variable declarion
object.method(); // function calling
object.property; // property calling

/*
For example, we assign the length of a string literal (also an object) to a new variable and because all this is being
done in a single statement, we end it with a ';' otherwise it looks inconsistent and messy 
*/
let myNameLength = 'Alex'.length; // See how it looks much neater with a ';' and let\'s us know the statement ends there. 
// the result also is 4 stored in myNameLength :) which again, we can call.
myNameLength; // you wouldn't see anything but that inside of a console will display 4 :)

I hope this helps understanding syntax of JavaScript a little more. Some of the terms I have used may be unfamiliar to you but I recommend you visit MDN https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/ and check out some of the things I've mentioned. Don't worry about anything, it is all just rules and regulations really of the language designers. HTML which uses </> is just another set of rules set for HTML. Good luck learning Aaron!