METALANGUAGES – LANGUAGES TO DESCRIBE OTHER LANGUAGES

METALANGUAGES – LANGUAGES TO DESCRIBE OTHER LANGUAGES

What is a program language syntax ?

METALANGUAGES – LANGUAGES TO DESCRIBE OTHER LANGUAGES

What is a program language syntax ?

Syntax is the way a language is formed and the rules governing its
formation. Each language has different “syntax” or ways of forming
code and statements.
METALANGUAGES – LANGUAGES TO DESCRIBE OTHER LANGUAGES

What is a metalanguage and why do

we need metalanguages?
 METALANGUAGES – LANGUAGES TO DESCRIBE OTHER LANGUAGES

What is a metalanguage and why do

we need metalanguages?
Metalanguages are languages that we use to describe the syntax of other
languages. Metalanguages are often called “object” languages because they are
“objective” in the sense they are not bound by the syntax of any one language.
• how to recognize the different portions in a piece of code written in the
formal language
• the possible ways to build a valid piece of code in the formal language
THEY ARE NOT DESCRIBING AN ALGORITHM OR CODE
METALANGUAGES – LANGUAGES TO DESCRIBE OTHER LANGUAGES

The two meta-languages we study in

the course are….
• EBNF – Extended Backus-Naur Form
• Railroad diagrams
EBF
Railroad diagrams
EBNF and Railroad differences