Terminology

Doug Gwyn gwyn at smoke.brl.mil
Tue Apr 16 07:38:41 AEST 1991


In article <1917 at manta.NOSC.MIL> mitch at manta.NOSC.MIL (Ray Mitchell) writes:
>Upon looking for a concise, English definition of the term "expression" in
>a multitiude of C texts, the best I can come up with is:
>	"Any combination of constants, variables, and operators
>	 (producing a value)"

The precise definition of "expression" would be any production derivable
from the grammar rules, starting with the nonterminal "expression".  For
maximum utility one should also stipulate that the production violates
no constraints.

In other words, don't try to short-cut the carefully worked-out standard
for the language; the standard is as elaborate as it is because that is
what it takes to accurately specify the C language.



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