Concepts

Parsing

Breaking down text or code into structured pieces a computer can understand and work with.

What is Parsing?

Parsing is the process of taking raw text or code and breaking it down into structured pieces that a computer can understand and process.

It works in stages: first splitting the input into tokens (like keywords and symbols), then checking if those tokens follow the grammar rules, and finally verifying the logic makes sense.

Most builders encounter parsing when working with APIs (JSON parsing), building compilers, processing user input, or handling data formats like CSV or XML. Every time you call JSON.parse() or use a library to read structured data, you're using a parser.

Parsers are built into most programming languages and frameworks. You rarely build one from scratch unless you're creating a new language or custom data format.

Good to Know

Parsing happens in three stages: lexical analysis (tokenization), syntax analysis (structure checking), and semantic analysis (logic verification)
Every programming language has built-in parsers for common formats like JSON, XML, and CSV
Parse trees visualize how tokens fit together according to grammar rules
Syntax errors happen when tokens don't follow the grammar rules; semantic errors happen when the logic doesn't make sense
You rarely build parsers from scratch unless creating a new language or custom data format

How Vibe Coders Use Parsing

1
Reading API responses by parsing JSON data into objects you can work with
2
Processing user-uploaded CSV files to import data into your database
3
Building a custom query language for your app's search feature
4
Converting markdown to HTML for your blog or documentation site

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Terms

Terminal

A text-based interface where you type commands to control your computer, install packages, run scripts, and manage files.

Web Scraping

Automatically extracting data from websites using code, turning web pages into structured data you can use in your apps or workflows.

Tokens

The bite-sized chunks of text that AI models read and generate, like words or word fragments. They're how AI counts and processes language.

LangChain

An open-source framework that lets you build AI apps by chaining together LLMs, tools, and data sources into reusable workflows.

Application Programming Interface (API)

A set of rules that lets different software programs talk to each other and share data or functionality.

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