Methods of evaluating source code using numeric array representations of source code elements

A source code evaluation node comprising:

• processing circuitry;
• and
• memory coupled with the processing circuitry, wherein the memory includes instructions that when executed by the processing circuitry causes the source code evaluation node to:
• provide source code of a programming language, wherein the source code includes a plurality of source code elements,
• select a source code element from the plurality of source code elements of the source code,
• generate a plurality of tokens based on the source code element, wherein each token of the plurality of tokens comprises a sequence of text characters,
• generate a binary Abstract Syntax Tree, AST, representation of the source code element based on the plurality of tokens of the source code element, wherein the binary AST representation comprises a plurality of binary AST nodes including binary AST token nodes and binary AST null nodes, wherein each of the binary AST token nodes is based on a respective one of the plurality of tokens of the source code element,
• encode each of the binary AST token nodes and binary AST null nodes into a respective numeric value, and
• generate a numeric array representation of the source code element based on the binary AST representation, wherein the numeric values for the respective binary AST token nodes and binary AST null nodes are mapped to locations in the numeric array representation based on respective locations of the binary AST token nodes and binary AST null nodes in the binary AST representation.