How can I show code (specifically C++) in an HTML page?

Question

How can I show code in a website using HTML? Basically, I have a C++ program that I'd like to share on my website and I want to show it in the page.

Is there anyway to show a C++ code in HTML other than using HTML text?

Answer 1

HTML includes a tag called <code>, which is meant for the purpose you describe.

The spec even includes an example class name convention to indicate which language the code is in:

<pre><code class="language-pascal">var i: Integer;
    begin
        i := 1;
    end.</code></pre>

I don’t know of any web browser that supports such a convention (come on, Chrome), but the JavaScript syntax highlighters mentioned in other answers could use it to work their magic.

As you can see in the example, the <code> tag is usually wrapped in the <pre> tag, which preserves white space, which is often important for code.