Backus-Naur form

== English == === Etymology === From the names of computer science pioneers John Backus and Peter Naur. The notation was developed by Backus in 1959 (as 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. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /bækəs naʊə fɔːm/ (General American) IPA(key): /bækəs naʊɚ fɔɹm/ === Noun === Backus-Naur form (countable and uncountable, plural Backus-Naur forms) (computing) A formal notation for context-free grammars. [From 1964.] 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. ==== 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 In computer science, Backus-Naur form is now superseded by extended Backus-Naur form, a family of metasyntax notations encompassing BNF.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): Backus normal form (obsolete), BNF (abbreviation) ==== Derived terms ==== (formal notation): augmented Backus-Naur form (ABNF), extended Backus-Naur form (EBNF) ==== Translations ==== === See also === Chomsky normal form metasyntax === References === === Further reading === Context-free grammar on Wikipedia.Wikipedia Chomsky hierarchy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia Regular grammar on Wikipedia.Wikipedia XML on Wikipedia.Wikipedia