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A parser is an algorithm that takes a string of symbols (tokens or characters) and finds a structure in it. Traditionally, that structure is a tree.
Rarely is an application interested only in the tree. Usually the idea is that the string “means” something: the idea is that the string has a semantics. Traditionally and most often, the tree is an intermediate step in producing a value, a value which represents the “meaning” or “semantics” of the string. Evaluating a tree means finding its semantics.