Website Builders.com

  • Home
  • Builder Reviews
        • Our team have carefully reviewed a selection of premium website building platform, making it easier for you to choose the right one.

          While most website builders are compatible for generic  website building, including online stores, blogs and generic websites, some are better than others depending on what your website type.

        • Website Builder Reviews

          GoDaddy

          IM Creator

          Jimdo

          Squarespace

          Voog

          Weebly

          Wix

          WordPress

        • Store Builder Reviews

          BigCommerce

          GoDaddy Store

          Shopify

          Weebly

          Wix

          Yola

        • Comparisons

          Wix vs. Weebly

          Shopify vs. BigCommerce

  • Start A Blog
  • How To Guides
        • With over 500 pages of detailed tutorials and guides, our guides cover a large chunk of online topics.

          Learn crafty tips and tricks to make your time online smooth. Our directory is useful for internet newbies, as well as aspiring website builders.

          Check out the full directory.

        • Building a Website

          How To Build a Website

          Name Your Website – Domain

          Picking a Web Hosting Service

          Content and User Experience

          More

        • Searching and Research

          Searching the Web

          Doing Research Online

          The World of Wiki

          Finding Videos Online

          More

        • E-mails – Basics and Advanced

          Getting Started

          Sending an E-mail Message

          Opening Attachments

          Sending Attachments

          More

        • Social Media & Communication

          Instant Messaging

          Online Networking

          Facebook

          LinkedIn

          More

        • Files, Downloads, Software & Installs

          File Formats and Extensions

          Install Plug-Ins

          How to Download Files

          Downloading Software

          More

        • Making Money Online

          Making Money with Facebook

          Affiliate Marketing

          Virtual Assistant

          Writing Articles

          More

        • Online Shopping

          10 Tips for Smart and Safe Shopping

          Smart Shopping

          Protecting Personal Information

          Looking for Discounts

          More

  • Website Builder Tools Your Business Can’t Do Without (+ Links To Useful Resources)
    • HTML Character Codes
    • Advertiser Tracking Cookies: There ARE Ways To Opt Out – Here’s How
    • Website Glossary
  • Our Blog
        • Recent Posts

          When you have awesome writers, it is easy to spread wisdom. Take a look at some of our recent posts on various internet and website related topics.

          Have any suggestions on topics? Don’t hold back, send us your ideas:

          [email protected]

        • 12 Simple Rules on How to Use E-mail Politely

          Live Chat Software: Is it Worth It? Facebook Says Yes.

          Algorithmic Warfare: Is it the Beginning or the End?

          How to Promote Your Pet Business Online

          DIY Marketing: 7 Steps for any Business Owner

        • 20 Ideas to Generate Your First Online Sale

          Complete Guide to Content Marketing

          8 Best Free Photo Editors for Product Photosraphy

          Press Kits: DIY to Free Media Hype

          Why Backlinks are Essential for SEO – How To Build Them

  • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • FAQ
    • How Did You Make This Site?
    • How the Website Is Funded
    • Our Team
You are here: Home / The Complete List Of How-To Tutorials For Internet Dummies / The Interactive Glossary: Defining the Net / Parsing Definition | The Interactive Glossary

Parsing Definition | The Interactive Glossary

Disclosure: Your support helps keep the site running! We earn a referral fee for some of the services we recommend on this page. Learn more

Contents

  • 1 Parsing
  • 2 Frequently Asked Questions
    • 2.1 Are languages other than HTML also parsed?
    • 2.2 Do all browsers parse HTML exactly the same way?
  • 3 Glossary Index

Parsing

Parsing is the process of breaking down code into individual chunks of code, verifying that all necessary inputs are included in the code, and acting on the instructions dictated by the code.

In the context of the Web, parsing most commonly happens when a web browser receives the files that comprise a website. Every web browser is equipped with a rendering engine that converts the files into the web page you see in your browser. The rendering engine contains several parsers – the part of the program that parses code prior to rendering the web page. There is a different parser for every language. At a minimum, any modern browser can parse HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

When website files are received by a browser, each file will be parsed individually, and parsing takes places in two steps:

Lexical analysis: During lexical analysis the code is analyzed and broken down into individual tokens, or bits of code, that the parser can work with to create a hierarchical model of the contents of the document. Lexical analysis of HTML is also sometimes referred to as tokenization.

Syntax analysis: After the lexical analysis has broken the code into workable chunks, the syntax analysis determines how these chunks relate to each other and builds a model of how the rendering engine should process the code based on this analysis. Syntax analysis of HTML is also sometimes referred to as tree construction since it is the process of arranging the tokens into something called a DOM tree that will define the overall structure of the web page.

Here’s a simplified example of how a browser’s HTML parser would handle a short bit of HTML:

<html>
  <body>
    <p>Random paragraph text.</p>
  </body>
</html>

First, lexical analysis would tokenize this HTML into the following chunks: HTML element, body element, paragraph element, text. Second, syntax analysis would fashion the elements into a tree looking something like this:

HTML --> Body --> Paragraph --> Text

In this simplified example, the tree only has a single branch. In virtually every real life example there would be many branches.

Also See: HTML, Browser, World Wide Web

Frequently Asked Questions

Are languages other than HTML also parsed?

Every programming language is parsed as a part of the process of executing the code. How parsing happens varies from one programming language to the next, but the basic premise remains the same with all programming languages.

In order for a program, such as a web browser, to be able to parse a certain type of code it must be equipped with a parser suitable to process that type of code. This is why a browser will have separate parsers from HTLM, CSS, and JavaScript. CSS code has to be understood in a fashion completely unlike HTML, and the same is true of JavaScript. As a result, while the basic ideas behind parsing are relatively constant from one language to the next, the actual mechanics are parsing code vary drastically from one language to the next.

It’s also worth noting that our discussion of parsing has been limited to the parsing of web pages in a browser. However, parsing happens on all types of computers and in all types of applications.

Do all browsers parse HTML exactly the same way?

A programming language’s standard specification will define how the language should be parsed. In the case of HTML, the HTML5 standard from the World Wide Web Consortium defines how HTML should be parsed. However, HTML is a very forgiving language, and many browsers include a variety of fixes that will allow a wide range of HTML mistakes to parse acceptably. As a result, the HTML parser of one browser may or may not render and HTML exactly the same was as another browser’s parser.


Glossary Index

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Latest Posts

Hosting

Black Friday 2023: Website Builder & Web Hosting Deals For Webmasters [Updated]

Uncategorized

Why WebsiteBuilders.com Got Hacked (Yes, You Can Blame Social Warfare)

E-mail Internet

E-Mail Etiquette: 12 Basic Rules For Politely Using E-Mail

Marketing social networking

Live Chat Software: Should You Invest In It? (It’s Easier Than You Think)

Computer Science

Never Heard Of Algorithmic Warfare? Then You’d Better Read This

Marketing

How To Successfully Promote Your Pet Business Online With Minimum Effort

Most Popular Reviews

  • Website Builder Reviews
  • Wix
  • Weebly
  • Squarespace
  • GoDaddy Website Builder
  • Shopify

Recent Posts

  • Black Friday 2023: Website Builder & Web Hosting Deals For Webmasters [Updated] November 5, 2019
  • Why WebsiteBuilders.com Got Hacked (Yes, You Can Blame Social Warfare) March 23, 2019
  • E-Mail Etiquette: 12 Basic Rules For Politely Using E-Mail November 15, 2017

About WebsiteBuilders.com

Everything you need to know about the WebsiteBuilders.com team.

About Us

Our Team

How The Website Is Funded

Privacy Policy

© 2017-2022 Website Builders.com | Sitemap