bnf

3 definitions found

bnf - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  BNF
  
     Backus-Naur Form.  Originally Backus Normal Form.
  
     [Jargon File]
  

bnf - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  BNF
   /B.N.F/, n.
  
     1. [techspeak] Acronym for Backus Normal Form (later retronymed to
     Backus-Naur Form because BNF was not in fact a normal 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.
  

bnf - V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (June 2006) :

  BNF
         Backus-Naur Form (TTCN, ...)