Backus–Naur Form
E129070
Backus–Naur Form is a formal notation used to define the syntax of programming languages and other formal grammars in a precise, structured way.
All labels observed (8)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Backus–Naur Form canonical | 8 |
| Backus–Naur form | 7 |
| BNF | 2 |
| Extended Backus–Naur Form | 2 |
| Backus Normal Form | 1 |
| Backus–Naur Form specification | 1 |
| Identifier and Pattern Syntax Rules | 1 |
| backus–naur form | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1117740 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Backus–Naur Form Context triple: [ALGOL 60, hasSyntaxDescription, Backus–Naur Form]
-
A.
Chomsky hierarchy
The Chomsky hierarchy is a classification of formal grammars into four types that correspond to increasing levels of generative power and computational complexity in formal language theory.
-
B.
ALGOL 60
ALGOL 60 is an early high-level programming language that pioneered block structure and lexical scoping, profoundly influencing the design of many later languages.
-
C.
General and Rational Grammar
General and Rational Grammar is a 17th-century French linguistic treatise from the Port-Royal school that seeks to explain the universal, rational principles underlying all human languages.
-
D.
Algol 68S
Algol 68S is a simplified subset of the Algol 68 programming language designed to make the language easier to implement and use.
-
E.
Algol 68
Algol 68 is a high-level, structured programming language from the ALGOL family, notable for its orthogonal design and influence on many later languages.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Backus–Naur Form Target entity description: Backus–Naur Form is a formal notation used to define the syntax of programming languages and other formal grammars in a precise, structured way.
-
A.
Chomsky hierarchy
The Chomsky hierarchy is a classification of formal grammars into four types that correspond to increasing levels of generative power and computational complexity in formal language theory.
-
B.
ALGOL 60
ALGOL 60 is an early high-level programming language that pioneered block structure and lexical scoping, profoundly influencing the design of many later languages.
-
C.
General and Rational Grammar
General and Rational Grammar is a 17th-century French linguistic treatise from the Port-Royal school that seeks to explain the universal, rational principles underlying all human languages.
-
D.
Algol 68S
Algol 68S is a simplified subset of the Algol 68 programming language designed to make the language easier to implement and use.
-
E.
Algol 68
Algol 68 is a high-level, structured programming language from the ALGOL family, notable for its orthogonal design and influence on many later languages.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (44)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
formal grammar notation
ⓘ
metalanguage ⓘ syntax specification language ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
BNF
ⓘ
linked to:
Backus–Naur Form
Backus Normal Form ⓘ
linked to:
Backus–Naur Form
|
| basedOn | context-free grammar theory ⓘ |
| cannotExpress | context-sensitive language constraints ⓘ |
| category |
formal methods
ⓘ
programming language syntax ⓘ |
| comparedWith | regular expressions ⓘ |
| definesRelationBetween | nonterminal symbols and sequences of terminals and nonterminals ⓘ |
| fieldOfUse |
compiler construction
ⓘ
computer science ⓘ formal language theory ⓘ programming language theory ⓘ |
| firstUsedFor |
ALGOL 60 language specification
ⓘ
linked to:
ALGOL 60
|
| hasAbbreviation |
BNF
ⓘ
linked to:
Backus–Naur Form
|
| hasComponent |
metasymbols
ⓘ
nonterminal symbols ⓘ production rules ⓘ terminal symbols ⓘ |
| hasVariant |
Augmented Backus–Naur Form
ⓘ
Extended Backus–Naur Form ⓘ
linked to:
Backus–Naur Form
|
| influenced |
Augmented Backus–Naur Form
ⓘ
Extended Backus–Naur Form ⓘ
linked to:
Backus–Naur Form
many programming language specifications ⓘ syntax diagrams ⓘ |
| moreExpressiveThan | regular expressions for nested structures ⓘ |
| namedAfter |
John Backus
ⓘ
Peter Naur ⓘ |
| property | can describe all context-free languages ⓘ |
| roleInSpecification | provides precise, unambiguous syntax definitions ⓘ |
| typicalMetasymbol |
::=
ⓘ
< > ⓘ | ⓘ |
| typicalNotationForNonterminals | angle brackets around names ⓘ |
| typicalNotationForTerminals | literal character sequences ⓘ |
| usedFor |
defining context-free grammars
ⓘ
defining the syntax of programming languages ⓘ describing language syntax in language specifications ⓘ specifying formal languages ⓘ |
| usedIn |
documentation of data formats
ⓘ
language reference manuals ⓘ standards documents for programming languages ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Backus–Naur Form Description of subject: Backus–Naur Form is a formal notation used to define the syntax of programming languages and other formal grammars in a precise, structured way.
Referenced by (23)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Backus–Naur Form
linked to: Backus–Naur Form
linked to: Backus–Naur Form
linked to: Backus–Naur Form
linked to: Backus–Naur Form
linked to: Backus–Naur Form
linked to: Backus–Naur Form
linked to: Backus–Naur Form
linked to: Backus–Naur Form
linked to: Backus–Naur Form
linked to: Backus–Naur Form
linked to: Backus–Naur Form
linked to: Backus–Naur Form
subject linked to:
Algorithmic Language
subject linked to:
Algorithmic Language
linked to: Backus–Naur Form