Code as data
In computer science, the expression code as data refers to the idea that source code written in a programming language can be manipulated as data, such as a sequence of characters or an abstract syntax tree (AST), and it has an execution semantics only in the context of a given compiler or interpreter. The notion is often used in the context of Lisp-like languages that use S-expressions as their main syntax, as writing programs using nested lists of symbols makes the interpretation of the program as an AST quite transparent (a property known as homoiconicity).