Re: specifying semantics, was Formatting of Language LRMs

On 26/06/14 05:54, George Neuner wrote:
> [...] What we refer to as "Backus-Naur Form"
> today is not the original used for Algol-58, [...].


The report ["Preliminary Report of ACM-GAMM Committee
on an International Algebraic Language"] describing what we now
call Algol 58 did not use BNF. Instead, the syntax is listed
as "forms"; eg,


      " D. Statements Sigma
      " Closed and self-contained [blah-de-blah].
      " Form: Sigma ~ begin Sigma; Sigma; ~~~ ~~~ ~~~; Sigma end
      " A statement may be made identifiable by attaching to it
      " a label L, [blah ...]
      " Form: Sigma ~ L: Sigma "


Backus proposed his system for "metalinguistic formulae" [as used
in the Algol 60 report] in 1959, and it was adopted by Naur, the
editor of the papers and the report defining Algol 60.


--
Andy Walker,
Nottingham.

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