Essentially, they are lines of code that will execute the smart contract on the network if certain conditions are met. (coinbureau.com)
NEO cryptocurrency is widely considered as «Chinese Ethereum» because it, like Ethereum, is aiming to build a platform on which other DApps or Decentralized Applications could be built by letting users execute smart contract code on their Blockchain. (kryptomoney.com)
In this case, that means focusing on the ethereum virtual machine (EVM), the piece of ethereum responsible for executing smart contracts, rather than building out the other components necessary to make private blockchains compatible with the public blockchain. (coindesk.com)