Skip to content
scrambled
Programming Language Theory Flashcard

What are the differences between abstract and concrete syntax?

Books Deckprogramming-language-basic

Question

What are the differences between abstract and concrete syntax?

Answer

  • Concrete/Surface syntax: The language that the programmers actually programs in - usually a sequence of characters.

  • Structural/Abstract syntax: The more structured language, easier to reason about & worked on by compiler implementations. Often represented by Abstract syntax tree (AST).