Rollup merge of #27232 - Dangthrimble:master, r=steveklabnik

Added definitions for 'Expression', 'Expression-Oriented Language' and 'Statement' to glossary.
Sorted the definitions alphabetically.

r? @steveklabnik
This commit is contained in:
Manish Goregaokar 2015-07-30 01:43:53 +05:30
commit 6b564a663b
2 changed files with 49 additions and 20 deletions

View File

@ -3,24 +3,12 @@
Not every Rustacean has a background in systems programming, nor in computer
science, so we've added explanations of terms that might be unfamiliar.
### Arity
Arity refers to the number of arguments a function or operation takes.
```rust
let x = (2, 3);
let y = (4, 6);
let z = (8, 2, 6);
```
In the example above `x` and `y` have arity 2. `z` has arity 3.
### Abstract Syntax Tree
When a compiler is compiling your program, it does a number of different
things. One of the things that it does is turn the text of your program into an
abstract syntax tree, or AST. This tree is a representation of the
structure of your program. For example, `2 + 3` can be turned into a tree:
When a compiler is compiling your program, it does a number of different things.
One of the things that it does is turn the text of your program into an
abstract syntax tree, or AST. This tree is a representation of the structure
of your program. For example, `2 + 3` can be turned into a tree:
```text
+
@ -37,3 +25,41 @@ And `2 + (3 * 4)` would look like this:
/ \
3 4
```
### Arity
Arity refers to the number of arguments a function or operation takes.
```rust
let x = (2, 3);
let y = (4, 6);
let z = (8, 2, 6);
```
In the example above `x` and `y` have arity 2. `z` has arity 3.
### Expression
In computer programming, an expression is a combination of values, constants,
variables, operators and functions that evaluate to a single value. For example,
`2 + (3 * 4)` is an expression that returns the value 14. It is worth noting
that expressions can have side-effects. For example, a function included in an
expression might perform actions other than simply returning a value.
### Expression-Oriented Language
In early programming languages, [expressions][expression] and
[statements][statement] were two separate syntactic categories: expressions had
a value and statements did things. However, later languages blurred this
distinction, allowing expressions to do things and statements to have a value.
In an expression-oriented language, (nearly) every statement is an expression
and therefore returns a value. Consequently, these expression statements can
themselves form part of larger expressions.
[expression]: glossary.html#expression
[statement]: glossary.html#statement
### Statement
In computer programming, a statement is the smallest standalone element of a
programming language that commands a computer to perform an action.

View File

@ -111,10 +111,13 @@ string to the screen. Easy enough!
[allocation]: the-stack-and-the-heap.html
Finally, the line ends with a semicolon (`;`). Rust is an expression oriented
language, which means that most things are expressions, rather than statements.
The `;` is used to indicate that this expression is over, and the next one is
ready to begin. Most lines of Rust code end with a `;`.
Finally, the line ends with a semicolon (`;`). Rust is an [expression oriented
language][expression-oriented language], which means that most things are
expressions, rather than statements. The `;` is used to indicate that this
expression is over, and the next one is ready to begin. Most lines of Rust code
end with a `;`.
[expression-oriented language]: glossary.html#expression-oriented-language
Finally, actually compiling and running our program. We can compile with our
compiler, `rustc`, by passing it the name of our source file: