Abstract Syntax Tree

Definitions

1. A tree representation of source code where each node represents a syntactic construct (expressions, statements, declarations). Unlike a parse tree, an AST omits syntactic sugar like parentheses and semicolons, keeping only the semantic structure. Used by compilers, linters, formatters, and code analysis tools.

   In plain English: A tree-shaped diagram of your code's structure that compilers and tools use to understand what the code means.

   Example: "ESLint walks the AST to find code quality issues — it doesn't read your code as text, it reads the parsed tree structure."

Related Terms

• Assembler
• Autofree
• BuckleScript
• C Backend
• Compiler
• Factor
• Lexer
• Parser
• Intermediate Representation
• Operator Precedence
• Regex Engine
• XML Parser