- Syntax is for grouping and for ; standard control flow constructs do not belong in basic language syntax, but rather go in the std metaprogramming library
- You should be able to tell how an expression parses without knowing the definition of the operators used
whitespace:
- the presence or absense of whitespace matters
- how many whitespaces you have does not matter
- newlines sometimes matter; they are equivalent to 'whitespace : whitespace', except when inside a multiline environment