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create article and provide introduction; details to come
In the late 1950's, John Backus and Peter Naur developed a notation for describing the syntax (grammar) of [[programming language]]s. This notation is known as '''Backus-Naur Form''' (or BNF), and was first used in the Algol 60 Report
<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.masswerk.at/algol60/report.htm
| title = Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language Algol 60
| accessdate = 2012-05-11
}}</ref>
to specify the syntax of Algol 60, and has since been used for specifying the syntax of other programming languages.
A few years earlier, in 1956, the linguist [[Noam Chomsky|Chomsky]] had published
<ref>{{cite journal
| title = Three models for the description of language
| year = 1956
| last = Chomsky
| first = Noam
| journal = IRE Transactions on Information Theory
| volume = 2
| pages = 113–124
| url = http://www.chomsky.info/articles/195609--.pdf
| accessdate = 2012-05-11
}}</ref>
an article about a [[Chomsky hierarchy|hierarchy]] of formal grammatical systems for describing various classes of languages. Even though expressed very differently, and developed independently, it turns out that BNF is logically equivalent to Chomsky's level 2 grammar (often referred to as a [[context-free grammar]]).
==References==
<references/>
<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.masswerk.at/algol60/report.htm
| title = Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language Algol 60
| accessdate = 2012-05-11
}}</ref>
to specify the syntax of Algol 60, and has since been used for specifying the syntax of other programming languages.
A few years earlier, in 1956, the linguist [[Noam Chomsky|Chomsky]] had published
<ref>{{cite journal
| title = Three models for the description of language
| year = 1956
| last = Chomsky
| first = Noam
| journal = IRE Transactions on Information Theory
| volume = 2
| pages = 113–124
| url = http://www.chomsky.info/articles/195609--.pdf
| accessdate = 2012-05-11
}}</ref>
an article about a [[Chomsky hierarchy|hierarchy]] of formal grammatical systems for describing various classes of languages. Even though expressed very differently, and developed independently, it turns out that BNF is logically equivalent to Chomsky's level 2 grammar (often referred to as a [[context-free grammar]]).
==References==
<references/>