The word "semantics" means the interpretation of the meaning of a word or sentence. So if someone says you are just with semantics they are probably trying to tell you that you are avoiding the ...
Intermediate C++ programmers are probably at least somewhat familiar with std::auto_ptr, and because of the "move semantics" it displays, it seems like a good starting point for discussing move semantics in C++11. YMMV. What is a move? The C++98 standard library offers a smart pointer with unique ownership semantics called std::auto_ptr
but what does it mean in terms of computer jargon? Essentially the same thing. Example: x = 5; The above is the syntax (representation). The meaning (i.e. the semantics) of this term is to assign the value 5 to a symbol (variable, whatever) called x. Different languages offer different syntaxes to provide the same semantics. For example, the above assignment would be written as x := 5; in ...
Semantics, and there can be more then one layer, even the textual message carries (Chomsky) semantics thus could be translated as meaning by form, creating functional differences to anything else in the output chain, including a human being, the reader.
TL; DR In summary, syntax is the concept that concerns itself only whether or not the sentence is valid for the grammar of the language. Semantics is about whether or not the sentence has a valid meaning. Long answer: Syntax is about the structure or the grammar of the language. It answers the question: how do I construct a valid sentence? All languages, even English and other human (aka ...