Syntax

#stub

Concrete Syntax

Abstract Syntax

Instead, we use the approach of abstract syntax, originally suggested by McCarthy(18). In this approach, it is assumed that programs are "really" abstract, hierarchically structured data objects, and that the character strings that one actually reads into the computer are simply representations of these abstract objects (in the same sense that digit strings are representations of integers). Thus the problems of grammar and parsing can be set aside as "input editing". --- Definitional Interpreters for Higher-Order Programming Languages (Reynolds, 1972) --- 800194.805852.pdf --- https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/800194.805852