The set of rules that defines the correct structure and format of statements in a programming language. It specifies how symbols, keywords, and operators must be arranged to create valid code that the computer can understand.
From Greek 'syntaxis' meaning 'arrangement together,' from 'syn-' (together) + 'taxis' (arrangement). Borrowed from linguistics in the 1960s when computer scientists realized programming languages needed formal grammatical rules like human languages.
Programming syntax is like grammar rules in English - just as you can't say 'dog the happy runs' and expect to be understood, you can't write 'if x = 5 then print hello' in most programming languages. The words might be right, but the arrangement breaks the rules, so neither humans nor computers can understand what you mean!
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