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John Backus
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John Backus was an American computer scientist who led the IBM team that designed and implemented Fortran, released in 1957 and generally regarded as the first widely used high level programming language, letting scientists and engineers write programs in something closer to mathematical notation instead of machine instructions. He later developed Backus Naur Form, a notation for describing the grammar of a programming language that remains in standard use, and received the 1977 ACM Turing Award for his contributions to high level programming systems, notably Fortran.
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The 1957 FORTRAN compiler by his IBM team is generally credited as the first unambiguously complete compiler.
John Backus led the team that designed Fortran and co-developed Backus-Naur Form, the notation for formally specifying a programming language's grammar that underlies most later work in programming language theory.
In Field
Invented
Sources
1. Computer: A History of the Information Machine
Martin Campbell-Kelly and William Aspray, Basic Books, 1996
ACM A.M. Turing Award Citations
Association for Computing MachineryCitationQuote, Citation
For profound, influential, and lasting contributions to the design of practical high-level programming systems, notably through his work on FORTRAN, and for seminal publication of formal procedures for the specification of programming languages.
ACM A.M. Turing Award Citations
Association for Computing MachineryIn Field: Software EngineeringView the Source ACM A.M. Turing Award Citations
ACM A.M. Turing Award Citations
Association for Computing MachineryAssociated With: Programming Language TheoryView the Source Wikipedia: John Backus
Wikimedia FoundationEarly lifeQuote, Early life
He led the team that invented and implemented FORTRAN, the first widely used high-level programming language, and was the inventor of the Backus-Naur form (BNF).
Wikipedia: Compiler
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Compiler, History sectionQuote, Associated With: Compiler, History section
In 1957, they completed a FORTRAN compiler that is generally credited as having introduced the first unambiguously complete compiler.
Wikipedia: Formal Methods
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Formal Methods, Specification sectionQuote, Associated With: Formal Methods, Specification section
In the ALGOL 58 report, John Backus presented a formal notation for describing programming language syntax, later named Backus normal form then renamed Backus-Naur form (BNF).
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