# JavaScript Overview – Basic Lexical Structure

The implementation of JavaScript within In-Sight 3D follows version 5 of the open standard approved by the European Computer Manufacturer’s Association, also known as ECMAScript 5 (ECMA5). It utilizes the Unicode 3 (or later) character set (UTF-8), and is similar to C, C++, C# and Java syntax in the following ways:

- The language is case-sensitive, which requires language keywords, variables, function names and other identifiers use a consistent capitalization of letters.
- Identifiers are used to name variables and functions, and must begin with a letter, an underscore (_) or a dollar sign ($). Digits are not allowed at the beginning.
- Compound statements are contained within curly braces ({}).
- White space is ignored, thus allowing cleanly formatted code that is easy to read and understand.

- Semicolons (;) separate statements, and while these are optional at the end of a line, they are highly recommended to explicitly demarcate the end of a statement.

  If statements are on separate lines, they can be omitted. However, JavaScript always interprets line breaks as a semicolon, so never insert a line break between return, break or continue and the expression that follows those keywords.