Astmelist

Astmelist is a term used in software engineering to describe a specialized list that aggregates metadata associated with nodes in an abstract syntax tree (AST). The term is not part of any official standard and is encountered in niche documentation or project-specific jargon, where it is used to describe a data structure designed to accompany or be attached to an AST during parsing or transformation.

In typical usage, an astmelist consists of ordered records, each corresponding to a node in the AST. Each record may include fields such as node type, source code location (line and column), symbol table references, type annotations, scope information, and provenance tags indicating the transformation stage or pass that added the metadata. The list is usually traversed alongside the tree, allowing tooling to query or update metadata without mutating the AST structure itself.

Astmelists are often used in compilers, interpreters, static analyzers, and integrated development environments to support tasks such as type checking, name resolution, optimization, and refactoring. Implementations vary, but common features include the ability to attach metadata lazily, support for efficient lookups by node identity, and compatibility with tree-walking utilities.

Because the term lacks broad standardization, readers should consult the specific project’s documentation to understand how an astmelist is defined, structured, and manipulated in that context. See also: abstract syntax tree, metadata, program analysis, compiler infrastructure.