Hi Jeffry -
I think of syntax as a "statement-level" definition. If you're familiar with C and C++, a lot of Java source code will look quite familiar. And the way we write many common statements in Java is almost identical to the way we'd write them (or could write them) in C/C++.
In meaning, semantics does overlap with syntax in this regard. But we're referring more to the concepts of expressing ideas in code rather than the nuts and bolts of each expression. The package and class model, and the interaction of those elements in particular, is semantically similar to Smalltalk. I'm getting a little foofy here, but there's a "sense" to writing code as intended by the language designers. It's defined as much by what you can express as what you can't.
One thing about C++ is that it easily degrades to trumped-up C (i.e., "syntax") in the hands of a novice. It's actually pretty easy to ignore the conventions ("semantics") possible in C++ but required in a "true" OOP language. When we're trying to pick a fight, some of us snooty people will call C++ "object-inclined," it makes OOP possible but isn't really serious about it.
Does that help?
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Michael Ernest, co-author of:
The Complete Java 2 Certification Study Guide [This message has been edited by Michael Ernest (edited January 13, 2001).]
