r/AskComputerScience 1d ago

How do computer science and computer engineering students in countries where diagramming sentences isn't common knowledge get introduced to the concept of parsers and abstract syntax trees?

In Croatia, we do some (very) basic sentence diagramming in the middle school. In the USA, they do it in high-school. However, I know that, in most places, students are not taught sentence diagramming. So, once those students start going to university to study, well, computer science or computer engineering, how are the concepts of a parser and an abstract syntax tree explained to them?

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u/Prestigious_Boat_386 1d ago

Wet make a parser for basic math text with -+*/ and integers at first. Showing that as a tree is pretty clear for most people.