Dictionary of Computer and Internet Terms: token
token
- the special message that is passed around a token-ring network to enable the computers to take turns transmitting.
- one of the items in a set, whether or not distinguishable from the others. For example, the list {a,a,b,c,c} contains five tokens but only three types. Contrast type(definition 3).
- a basic meaningful unit of a language. For example, the one-line BASIC program
10 PRINT "The square root of 2 is ";SQR(2)
consists of ten tokens:
(Some people do not count the spaces as tokens.) Breaking the input into tokens is the first step in processing any computer language.
