X-Nico

2 unusual facts about John Backus


Peter Naur

His last name is the N in the BNF notation (Backus-Naur form), used in the description of the syntax for most programming languages.

Von Neumann programming languages

Using a metaphor from John Backus, assignment statements in von Neumann languages split programming into two worlds.


Imperative programming

FORTRAN, developed by John Backus at IBM starting in 1954, was the first major programming language to remove the obstacles presented by machine code in the creation of complex programs.


see also