- By now you're pretty familiar with conditionals in Python.
We start with an if, followed by our condition,
then we end the condition with a colon.
Then on the next line
we indent the block of code that we want executed.
And the else is very similar,
except there's no condition to check.
In the Java programming language, the if else statement
has a slightly different syntax.
Remember, syntax is just the same thing as saying rules
for how a programming language
expects its code to be written.
After the if keyword,
there's a set of opening and closing parentheses.
Inside these parentheses
is where you put the condition you want to be tested.
And instead of a colon after the condition,
a pair of opening and closing curly braces are used
to denote the code block for the if.
The same thing is true for the else clause.
Now although it's customary
to indent the statements in the code blocks,
it's not a requirement the way it is for Python.
Let's look at one final example
with the Ruby programming language.
Ruby is known for its ease of use and flexibility.
But just like the other languages,
the structure of the if else statement is the same,
but the syntax differs.
With Ruby there are no parentheses
or a colon to separate the condition.
Even the else clause just stands on a line all alone.
The one thing that's more noticeably different
is the addition of the end keyword.
This is how Ruby notes
that it's done with this if else statement.
Not based on indentation or a curly brace
like Python and Java.
The cool thing about learning the basics of programming
is that once you grasp the structure
of the core statements and principles,
you can more readily recognize them across all languages.