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John Backus

Also Known As John Warner Backus · John W. Backus
Software And Its Engineering

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.

Facts
Birth Year
1924 1
Birth Date
1924-12-03 2
Death Year
2007 1
Death Date
2007-03-17 2
Nationality
American 1
John Backus
Filter Results1 entry

Backus-Naur Form

John Backus
Connections

Associated With

Compiler, Concepts

The 1957 FORTRAN compiler by his IBM team is generally credited as the first unambiguously complete compiler.

Source Wikipedia: Compiler
Formal Methods, Fields
Source Wikipedia: Formal Methods
Programming Language Theory, Fields

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.

Source ACM A.M. Turing Award Citations

In Field

Software Engineering, Fields
Source ACM A.M. Turing Award Citations

Invented

Fortran, Programming Languages
Source ACM A.M. Turing Award Citations

Invented By

Backus-Naur Form, Concepts

John Backus devised the notation to describe ALGOL 60's grammar at the 1959 ACM conference.

In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Computer: A History of the Information Machine
Martin Campbell-Kelly and William Aspray, Basic Books, 1996
2. John Backus (Wikidata)
  • Wikidata alias: John Warner Backus
    John Warner Backus
  • Wikidata P166: Harold Pender Award
    Wikidata P166 (award received): Harold Pender Award.
  • Wikidata P166: Charles Stark Draper Prize
    Wikidata P166 (award received): Charles Stark Draper Prize.
  • Wikidata P166: honorary doctorate of the Henri Poincaré University
    Wikidata P166 (award received): honorary doctorate of the Henri Poincaré University.
  • Wikidata P166: Turing Award
    Wikidata P166 (award received): Turing Award.
  • Wikidata P166: W. Wallace McDowell Award
    Wikidata P166 (award received): W. Wallace McDowell Award.
  • Wikidata P166: Computer History Museum Fellow
    Wikidata P166 (award received): Computer History Museum Fellow.
  • Wikidata P166: Programming Languages Achievement Award
    Wikidata P166 (award received): Programming Languages Achievement Award.
  • Wikidata P166: IBM Fellow
    Wikidata P166 (award received): IBM Fellow.
  • Wikidata P166: Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
    Wikidata P166 (award received): Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
  • Wikidata P166: IRI Achievement Award
    Wikidata P166 (award received): IRI Achievement Award.
  • Wikidata P166: National Medal of Science
    Wikidata P166 (award received): National Medal of Science.
  • Wikidata alias: John W. Backus
    John W. Backus
  • P569 (date of birth): 1924-12-03
    1924-12-03
  • P570 (date of death): 2007-03-17
    2007-03-17
View the Source
ACM A.M. Turing Award Citations
Association for Computing Machinery
  • 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.
  • In Field: Software Engineering
  • Invented: Fortran
  • Associated With: Programming Language Theory
View the Source
Wikipedia: John Backus
Wikimedia FoundationEarly life
Quote, 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).
View the Source
Wikipedia: Compiler
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Compiler, History section
Quote, Associated With: Compiler, History section
In 1957, they completed a FORTRAN compiler that is generally credited as having introduced the first unambiguously complete compiler.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Formal Methods
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Formal Methods, Specification section
Quote, 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).
View the Source
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