411 REFERENCE · Wiktionary
Backus-Naur form
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English
Etymology
From the names of computer science pioneers John Backus and Peter Naur. The notation was developed by Backus in 1959 (as en Backus normal form) to describe computer languages, specifically ALGOL 58, and expanded and used by Naur in the ALGOL 60 report (the result of a January 1960 meeting). The name change to Backus-Naur form was at the suggestion of Donald Knuth.1964, Donald E. Knuth, Backus normal Form vs Backus Naur Form, Communications of the ACM 7:12, pages 735–6.
Pronunciation
en /bækəs naʊə fɔːm/ RP
en /bækəs naʊɚ fɔɹm/ GenAm
en LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-Backus-Naur form.wav US
Noun
~ Backus-Naur form
en computing A formal notation for context-free grammars. From 1964.
en 1991 Bernd Teufel Organization of Programming Languages https://books.google.com.au/books?id=_dyoCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA26&dq=%22Backus-Naur+forms%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjn_Zyj_J3cAhVCFZQKHZZaDh4Q6AEIhwEwEg#v=onepage&q=%22Backus-Naur%20forms%22&f=false 26 Springer While context-free grammars (which, by the way, directly correspond to Backus-Naur forms) define the syntax of declarations, statements, and expressions, etc. (i.e. the structure of a program), the regular grammars define the syntax of identifiers, numbers, strings, etc. (i.e., the basic symbols of the language).
2004, Jason H. Moore, Lance W. Hahn, Systems Biology Modeling in Human Genetics Using Petri Nets and Grammatical Evolution, Kalyanmoy Deb, et. al. (editors), Genetic and Evolutionary Computation, GECCO 2004, Proceedings, Part 1, Springer, LNCS 3102, page 396,
Here, a Backus-Naur Form (BNF) grammar is specified that allows a computer program or model to be constructed by a simple genetic algorithm operating on an array of bits.
en 2011 Airi Salminen; Frank Tompa Communicating with XML https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Bg_WcOOe-tIC&pg=PA215&dq=%22Backus-Naur+form%22%7C%22Backus-Naur+forms%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjwkKjo0p3cAhXDopQKHV4FAJoQ6AEIaDAM#v=onepage&q=%22Backus-Naur%20form%22%7C%22Backus-Naur%20forms%22&f=false 215 Springer The most common syntactic metalanguage adopted in the computing world is Extended Backus-Naur Form (EBNF). There are many slightly different variants of EBNF, but all of them are based on Backus-Naur Form (BNF), developed in the 1960s for describing the syntax of the Fortran and Algol 60 programming languages.
Usage notes
The plural may be used when referring to instances of the notation's use (as a form of description of specific grammars) or to specific versions (especially extensions) of the notation.
In computer science, Backus-Naur form is now superseded by en extended Backus-Naur form, a family of metasyntax notations encompassing BNF. An EBNF standard was adopted by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1996 as ISO/IEC 14977. Also in 1996, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) used an EBNF to specify XML.
Synonyms
formal notation en Backus normal form obsolete, en BNF abbreviation
Derived terms
formal notation en augmented Backus-Naur form ABNF, en extended Backus-Naur form EBNF
Translations
a formal notation for context-free grammars
Esperanto: eo formo de Backus-Naur
Icelandic: is Backus-Naur-ritháttur m, is Backus-Naur ritháttur m
See also
en Chomsky normal form
en metasyntax
References
Further reading
Context-free grammar
Chomsky hierarchy
Regular grammar
XML
en eponyms