Language construct: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:33, 20 August 2022

Latest revision as of 22:03, 7 July 2024

(3 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown)

Line 2:

{{More sources|date=January 2021}}

In [[computer programming]], a '''language construct''' is "a [[Syntax (programming languages)|syntactically]] allowable part of a [[Computer program|program]] that may be formed from one or more [[lexical token]]s in accordance with the rules of the [[programming language]]", as defined by in the [[ISO/IEC 2382]] standard ([[ISO/IEC JTC 1]]).<ref name="ISO/IEC 2382">{{cite web |title=ISO/IEC 2382, Information technology — Vocabulary |url=https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso-iec:2382:ed-1:v1:en}}</ref>

A '''term''' is defined as a "linguistic construct in a [[conceptual schema]] language that refers to an entity".<ref name="ISO/IEC 2382"/>

The term "language construct" is often used as a synonym for control structure.

While the terms "language construct" and "control structure" are often used synonymously, there are additional types of logical constructs within a computer program, including [[variable (computer science)|variables]], [[expression (computer science)|expressions]], [[function (computer science)|functions]], or [[modular programming|modules]].

[[Control flow]] statements (such as [[Conditional (computer programming)|conditionals]], [[foreach loop]]s, [[while loop]]s, etc) are language constructs, not [[Subroutine|function]]s. So <code>while (true)</code> is a language construct, while <code>add(10)</code> is a function call.

==Examples of language constructs==

In [[PHP]] <code>print</code> is a language construct.<ref>{{Cite [httpweb |title=PHP: print - Manual |url=https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.print.php] |access-date=2022-11-18 |website=www.php.net}}</ref>

<syntaxhighlight lang="php">

<?php

Line 37 ⟶ 39:

};

</syntaxhighlight>

{{Compu-lang-stub}}

==References==

{{reflist}}{{Compu-lang-stub}}