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Grammar: The language of languages (BNF, EBNF, ABNF and more)

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Programming languages, protocol specifications, query languages, file formats, pattern languages, memory layouts, formal languages, config files, mark-up languages, formatting languages and meta-languages shape the way we compute. So, what shapes languages? Grammars do. Grammars are the language of languages. Behind every language, there is a grammar that determines its structure. This article explains grammars and common notations for grammars, such as Backus-Naur Form (BNF), Extended Backus-Naur Form (EBNF) and regular extensions to BNF. After reading this article, you will be able to identify and interpret all commonly used notation for grammars. A grammar defines a language. In computer science, the most common type of grammar is the context-free grammar, and these grammars will be the primary focus of this article. Context-free grammars have sufficient richness to describe the recursive syntactic structure of many (though certainly not all) languages. I'll discuss grammars beyond

Grammar: The language of languages (BNF, EBNF, ABNF and more) The language of languages [ article index ] [ ] [ @mattmight ] [ rss ] Languages form the terrain of computing. Programming languages, protocol specifications, query languages, file formats, pattern languages, memory layouts, formal languages, config files, mark-up languages, formatting languages and meta-languages shape the way we compute. So, what shapes languages? Grammars do. Grammars are the language of languages. Behind every language, there is a grammar that determines its structure. This article explains grammars and common

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