what is a syntax in programming

Syntax in programming refers to the set of rules that define the structure of a programming language. These rules determine how symbols, punctuation, and words are combined to create correctly structured statements or expressions in a language). Syntax is essential in programming because it enables programmers to communicate effectively with computers. Without syntax, it would be impossible to write functioning code, and the computer would not be able to understand the instructions given to it. Syntax is generally divided into three levels: words, phrases, and context. The lexical level determines how characters form tokens, the grammar level determines how tokens form phrases, and context determines what objects or variable names refer to, if types are valid, etc. ). Syntax is usually defined using a combination of regular expressions and Backus-Naur form to specify syntactic categories and terminal symbols). Syntax varies between programming languages, and each language has its own set of rules that make up its basic syntax.