**for nicely inserting code snippets:**
` ```[language identifier] `
`your code here`
` ``` `

For example, the *identifier* for c++ is `cpp`:
` ```cpp `
`.`
`.`
`.`
` ``` `

enables c++ syntax highlighting, resulting in a block of code that looks like this:
```cpp
#include <iostream> //std::cerr, std::cout, std::cin
#include <string>   //because c-strings are gross

int main()
{
    using std::string;
    using std::cout;
    using std::cin;
    using std::cout;

    /* do stuff */
    return 0;
}
```