BNF definition was found in categories: Computer & Internet(5) Business & Finance(1) Science & Technology(1) Language, Idioms & Slang(1) Encyclopedia(1)
| Jargon File |
/B-N-F/ n. 1. [techspeak] Acronym for `Backus Normal Form' (often incorrectly expanded as `Backus-Naur Form'), a metasyntactic notation used to specify the syntax of programming languages, command sets, and the like. Widely used for language descriptions but seldom documented anywhere, so that it must usually be learned by osmosis from other hackers. Consider this BNF for a U.S. postal address:
<postal-address> ::= <name-part> <street-address> <zip-part> <personal-part> ::= <name> | <initial> "." <name-part> ::= <personal-part> <last-name> [<jr-part>] <EOL> | <personal-part> <name-part> <street-address> ::= [<apt>] <house-num> <street-name> <EOL> <zip-part> ::= <town-name> "," <state-code> <ZIP-code> <EOL>
This translates into English as: "A postal-address consists of a name-part, followed by a street-address part, followed by a zip-code part. A personal-part consists of either a first name or an initial followed by a dot. A name-part consists of either: a personal-part followed by a last name followed by an optional `jr-part' (Jr., Sr., or dynastic number) and end-of-line, or a personal part followed by a name part (this rule illustrates the use of recursion in BNFs, covering the case of people who use multiple first and middle names and/or initials). A street address consists of an optional apartment specifier, followed by a street number, followed by a street name. A zip-part consists of a town-name, followed by a comma, followed by a state code, followed by a ZIP-code followed by an end-of-line." Note that many things (such as the format of a personal-part, apartment specifier, or ZIP-code) are left unspecified. These are presumed to be obvious from context or detailed somewhere nearby. See also parse. 2. Any of a number of variants and extensions of BNF proper, possibly containing some or all of the regexp wildcards such as * or +. In fact the example above isn't the pure form invented for the Algol-60 report; it uses [], which was introduced a few years later in IBM's PL/I definition but is now universally recognized. 3. In science-fiction fandom, a `Big-Name Fan' (someone famous or notorious). Years ago a fan started handing out black-on-green BNF buttons at SF conventions; this confused the hacker contingent terribly.
| Computer Abbreviations v1.5 |
Backus-Naur Form (also Backus-Normal Form) [developed by John Backus and Peter Naur]
| 9300+ Computer Acronyms |
Backus Naur Form
| Uri's File.*Xten.c.ons* |
Backus-Naur Form (also Backus-Normal Form) [developed by
| Internet and Chat Abbreviations |
Big Name Fan
| NCTS Glossary v.1.0 |
Backus-Naur Form
| Oceanographic, Meteorologal & Climatologal abbreviations and acronyms |
Biological Nitrogen Fixation
| hEnglish - advanced version |
bnf
backus-naur form. originally backus normal form.
bnf
backus-naur form (ttcn,..)
similar words(1)
extended bnf
| Wikipedia English - The Free Encyclopedia |
- Parties associated with the Belarusian People's Front are also known as BNF:
- Botswana National Front
- British National Front, a far-right political party in the United Kingdom.
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Bibliothèque nationale de France
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