Here I enter an area that was close to me: the use of syntax (grammar) not only for analysis, but as a mechanism for organizing and controlling the transformation of data and texts.
The idea is that form is not merely “decorative”. If the structure of an entity is correctly described (through rules), then processing can be guided by that structure: recognition, validation, transformation, generation. In this sense, “syntax” becomes an operational tool, not just a theoretical chapter.
In the logic of the decade, the text connects with the concern for intermediate forms: to design and build systematically, one needs representations that can be manipulated safely. An explicit syntax does exactly that: it reduces ambiguity and introduces a discipline of transformations.
The article can also be read as a bridge between “compilers” and “software engineering”: the same ideas about structures, rules and translation can organize not only programs, but also processes of information processing.
