Why is ::= used as assignment operator in doc statements?

[Ben Finney]

schaffe at gmail.com writes:

> Why is statments expressed with ::= as the assigning operator?
> like: http://docs.python.org/ref/grammar.txt

That page is part of the language reference. It shows, not Python
code, but a description of part of the Python grammar. See §1.2
<URL:http://www.python.org/doc/ref/notation.html>.

-- 
 \         “A man must consider what a rich realm he abdicates when he |
  `\                       becomes a conformist.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney