Abstract syntax tree
An abstract syntax tree is a hierarchical tree representation of the syntactic structure of parsed source code or other language input, typically omitting superficial formatting details.
Building User-Friendly DSLs
A structured representation of language content in which nodes represent syntactic constructs independently of surface notation.
- How it is used
- Anchors projectional DSL editing, code generation, language services, and structural evolution in a shared representation.
- How deep it goes
- Defines extraction and tree shape, then implements JavaScript encoding, navigation, recursive traversal, and migrations; defers parsing mechanics.
- Examples
- Builds a Rental record AST with attributes, numeric initial values, and an attribute-reference initial value.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via JavaScript to encode, inspect, modify, traverse, and migrate DSL content represented as ASTs.
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Write Powerful Rust Macros
An abstract syntax tree is a hierarchical representation of a program's syntactic structure and relevant semantic elements.
- How it is used
- Supports procedural macros that inspect Rust input structure and generate replacement or additional code.
- How deep it goes
- Demonstrates parsing, re-emitting, testing, and traversing AST nodes; defers compiler parsing internals.
- Examples
- Uses `1 + 11`, struct reconstruction, builder-output tests, and `String` versus `u8` fields.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via `syn` to inspect Rust declarations, verify generated output, and vary macro expansion by field type.
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Related concepts
- parsingproduced by · Parsing is the analysis of input according to structural or syntactic rules to identify its components and produce a structured, usable representation.
- edit statecontrasts with · A book-specific object stored outside the abstract syntax tree that tracks editing state, including the original value and update operation for a projected DSL value.
- build systemused by · A build system is software that automates transforming source code and project inputs into artifacts through tasks such as compiling, testing, and packaging.
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