What does syntactic sugar mean?

Definitions for syntactic sugar
syn·tac·tic sug·ar

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word syntactic sugar.

Wiktionary

  1. syntactic sugarnoun

    Additions to a computer language that make code easier for humans to read or write, but that do not change the functionality or expressiveness of the language.

Wikipedia

  1. Syntactic sugar

    In computer science, syntactic sugar is syntax within a programming language that is designed to make things easier to read or to express. It makes the language "sweeter" for human use: things can be expressed more clearly, more concisely, or in an alternative style that some may prefer. Syntactic sugar is usually a shorthand for a common operation that could also be expressed in an alternate, more verbose, form: The programmer has a choice of whether to use the shorter form or the longer form, but will usually use the shorter form since it is shorter and easier to type and read. For example, many programming languages provide special syntax for referencing and updating array elements. Abstractly, an array reference is a procedure of two arguments: an array and a subscript vector, which could be expressed as get_array(Array, vector(i,j)). Instead, many languages provide syntax such as Array[i,j]. Similarly an array element update is a procedure consisting of three arguments, for example set_array(Array, vector(i,j), value), but many languages also provide syntax such as Array[i,j] = value. A construct in a language is syntactic sugar if it can be removed from the language without any effect on what the language can do: functionality and expressive power will remain the same. Language processors, including compilers and static analyzers, often expand sugared constructs into their more verbose equivalents before processing, a process sometimes called "desugaring".

Wikidata

  1. Syntactic sugar

    In computer science, syntactic sugar is syntax within a programming language that is designed to make things easier to read or to express. It makes the language "sweeter" for human use: things can be expressed more clearly, more concisely, or in an alternative style that some may prefer. For example, many programming languages provide special syntax for referencing and updating array elements. Abstractly, an array reference is simply a procedure of two arguments: an array and a subscript vector, which could be expressed as get_array . Instead, many languages provide special syntax like Array[i,j] . Similarly an array element update is abstractly something like set_array, but many languages provide syntax like Array[i,j] := value. Specifically, a construct in a language is called syntactic sugar if it can be removed from the language without any effect on what the language can do: functionality and expressive power will remain the same. For instance, in the C language the a[i] notation is syntactic sugar for * . Language processors, including compilers, static analyzers, and the like, often expand sugared constructs into more fundamental constructs before processing, a process sometimes called "desugaring".

The New Hacker's Dictionary

  1. syntactic sugar

    [coined by Peter Landin] Features added to a language or other formalism to make it ‘sweeter’ for humans, but which do not affect the expressiveness of the formalism (compare chrome). Used esp. when there is an obvious and trivial translation of the ‘sugar’ feature into other constructs already present in the notation. C's a[i] notation is syntactic sugar for *(a + i). “Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semicolon.” — Alan Perlis.The variants syntactic saccharin and syntactic syrup are also recorded. These denote something even more gratuitous, in that syntactic sugar serves a purpose (making something more acceptable to humans), but syntactic saccharin or syrup serve no purpose at all. Compare candygrammar, syntactic salt.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of syntactic sugar in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of syntactic sugar in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Translation

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"syntactic sugar." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 Oct. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/syntactic+sugar>.

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