CODEWITHSUNDEEP
programming-languages
anonymous
anonymous

Reputation: 3544

What is the term(s) used to describe programming language syntax?

Is there an exact/correct term to describe this difference between the syntax/constructs of programming langauges e.g VB6 with its (if ... else ... endif) and C# with its curly braces for conditional statements.

I'm using VB6 syntax and C# as examples since I'm more familiar with their syntax.

For example, Visual Basic 6's syntax uses a more verbose, natural language like structure.

If (id = 0) Then
    id = MyObject.Add(Me)
Else
    Call MyObject.Update(Me)
End If

while C# has more concise syntax like:

if (id == 0)
{
    id = MyObject.Add(this);
}
else
{
    MyObject.Update(this);
}

Conciseness? Natural languageness? Or is there a more "scientific" word for describing syntax?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 511

Answers (2)

Michael
Michael

Reputation: 3608

Syntax seems to be described in terms of what it most resembles, C#'s syntax is based off of C syntax, Lisp is based off of parentheses, Basic is influenced by Fortran etc. I found this table pretty interesting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_programming_languages_%28syntax%29#Blocks

Upvotes: 1

Daniel DiPaolo
Daniel DiPaolo

Reputation: 56390

You may be looking for the word "terse", as in the opposite of verbose.

Upvotes: 2

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