The syntactic analysis of source code, written in a programming language, usually entails the transformation of a linear sequence of tokens into a hierarchical syntax tree (abstract syntax trees are one convenient form of syntax tree). Source code (commonly just source or code) is any series of statements written in some human-readable computer programming language. ... A programming language is an artificial language that can be used to control the behavior of a machine, particularly a computer. ... In computer science, abstract syntax tree (AST) is a data structure representing something which has been parsed, often used as a compiler or interpreters internal representation of a computer program while it is being optimized and from which code generation is performed. ...

Syntax analysis, also known as parsing, is one of the first actions performed by a compiler. An example of parsing a mathematical expression. ... A diagram of the operation of a typical multi-language, multi-target compiler. ...

There are tools that automatically generates parsers from a specification of a language grammar written in Backus-Naur form, e.g., Yacc (yet another compiler compiler). The Backus-Naur form (BNF) (also known as Backus normal form) is a metasyntax used to express context-free grammars: that is, a formal way to describe formal languages. ... Yacc is a piece of computer software that serves as the standard parser generator on Unix systems. ...

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