CSCI 330 - Chapter 3

Metalanguage

A language that is used to describe another language. BNF is a metalanguage for programming languages.

Token

A token of a language is a category of its lexemes

Grammars

Formal language-generation mechanisms, usually called grammars, that are commonly used to describe the syntax of programming languages.

Non-terminal Symbols

The abstractions in a BNF description, or grammar, are often called non-terminal symbols.

Terminals

The lexemes and tokens of the rule are called terminal symbols.

Lexemes

The lexemes of a programming language include its numeric literals, operators, and special words, among others.

Semantics

The meaning of expressions, statements, and program units.

Sentences

The strings of a language are called sentences.

Syntax

The syntax of a programming language is the form of its expressions, statements, and program units.