What is "syntactic sugar"

n. (context computing English) Additions to a computer language that make code easier for humans to read or write, but that do not change the functionality or expressiveness of the language.

In computer science, syntactic sugar is syntax within a programming language that is designed to make things easier to read or to express. It makes the language "sweeter" for human use: things can be expressed more clearly, more concisely, or in an alternative style that some may prefer.

For example, many programming languages provide special syntax for referencing and updating array elements. Abstractly, an array reference is a procedure of two arguments: an array and a subscript vector, which could be expressed as get_array(Array, vector(i,j)). Instead, many languages provide syntax like Array[i,j]. Similarly an array element update is a procedure of three arguments, something like set_array(Array, vector(i,j), value), but many languages provide syntax like Array[i,j] = value.

Specifically, a construct in a language is called syntactic sugar if it can be removed from the language without any effect on what the language can do: functionality and expressive power will remain the same.

Language processors, including compilers, static analyzers, and the like, often expand sugared constructs into more fundamental constructs before processing, a process sometimes called "desugaring".