Portrait of Peter Naur taken 1968, courtesy of Robert M. McClure.

Peter Naur (born October 25, 1928) is a Danish pioneer in computer science and Turing award winner. His last name is the N in the BNF notation (Backus-Naur form), used in the description of the syntax for most programming languages. He contributed to the creation of the Algol 60 programming language. Download high resolution version (480x614, 28 KB)Larger version of the Peter Naur portrait, taken by Robert M. McClure, used by permission. ... Download high resolution version (480x614, 28 KB)Larger version of the Peter Naur portrait, taken by Robert M. McClure, used by permission. ... October 25 is the 298th day of the year (299th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 67 days remaining. ... 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Computer science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their implementation and application in computer systems. ... The A.M. Turing Award is given annually by the Association for Computing Machinery to a person selected for contributions of a technical nature made to the computing community. ... The Backus-Naur form (BNF) (also known as Backus normal form) is a metasyntax used to express context-free grammars: that is, a formal way to describe formal languages. ... Computer code (HTML with JavaScript) in a tool that uses syntax highlighting (colors) to help the developer see the purpose of each piece of code. ... ALGOL (short for ALGOrithmic Language) is a programming language originally developed in the mid 1950s which became the de facto standard way to report algorithms in print for almost the next 30 years. ...

He began his career as an astronomer for which he received his PhD in 1957, but his encounter with computers led to a change of profession. From 1959 to 1969 he was employed at Regnecentralen, the Danish computing institute, while at the same time giving lectures at the Niels Bohr Institute and the Technical University of Denmark. From 1969 to 1998 Peter was a professor of computer science at Copenhagen University. An astronomer or astrophysicist is a scientist whose area of research is astronomy or astrophysics. ... Doctor of Philosophy, or Ph. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A computer is a machine for manipulating data according to a list of instructions - a program. ... 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday For other uses, see Number 1969. ... Regnecentralen, or RC for short, was the first Danish computer company, founded on October 12, 1955. ... The Niels Bohr Institute is part of the Niels Bohr Institute for Astronomy, Physics and Geophysics of the University of Copenhagen. ... Technical University of Denmark The Technical University of Denmark (Danish: Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (DTU)) was founded in 1829 as the College of Advanced Technology (Danish: Den Polytekniske Læreanstalt) belonging to the University of Copenhagen. ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday For other uses, see Number 1969. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... A professor (Latin: one who publicly professes to be an expert) (or prof for short) is a senior teacher, lecturer and researcher, usually in a college or university. ... University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (Danish: Københavns Universitet) is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Copenhagen, Denmark. ...

His main areas of inquiry are design, structure and performance of computer programs and algorithms. Areas such as software engineering and software architecture have also been pioneered by Naur. In his book Computing: A Human Activity (1992), which is a collection of his contributions to computer science, he rejects the formalist school of programming that view programming as a branch of mathematics. He does not like being associated with the Backus-Naur form (attributed to him by Donald Knuth) and says that he would prefer it to be called the Backus Normal Form. A computer program or software program (usually abbreviated to a program) is a step-by-step list of instructions written for a particular computer architecture in a particular computer programming language. ... Flowcharts are often used to represent algorithms. ... Software engineering (SE) is the profession that creates and maintains software applications by applying technologies and practices from computer science, project management, engineering, application domains and other fields. ... Software architecture or software systems architecture can best be thought of as a representation of an engineered (or To Be Engineered) software system, and the process and discipline for effectively implementing the design(s) for such a system. ... Mathematics is often defined as the study of topics such as quantity, structure, space, and change. ... The Backus-Naur form (BNF) (also known as Backus normal form) is a metasyntax used to express context-free grammars: that is, a formal way to describe formal languages. ... Donald Knuth at a reception for the Open Content Alliance. ...

Naur dislikes the very term computer science and suggests it be called datalogy. This term has also been adopted in most Scandinavian countries. (In Denmark and in Sweden as datalogi.)

In later years he has also been quite outspoken of the pursuit of science as a whole: Naur can possibly be identified with the empiricist school, that tells that one shall not seek deeper connections between things that manifest themselves in the world, but keep to the observable facts. He has attacked both certain strands of philosophy and psychology from this viewpoint. Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Science For the scientific journal named Science, see Science (journal). ... Empiricism comes from the Greek word εμπειρισμός, a noun meaning a test or trial. The -pir- is ultimately related to the -per- of the Latin words experientia and experimentum, both of which mean experiment, and from which our words experiment and experience come. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Auguste Rodins The Thinker, bronze cast by Alexis Rudier, Laeken Cemetery, Brussels, Belgium Psychology (ancient Greek: psyche = soul or mind, logos/-ology = study of) is an academic and applied field involving the study of the mind and behavior, both human and nonhuman. ...

Dr. Naur won the 2005 ACM A.M. Turing Award for his work on defining the Algol 60 programming language. In particular, his role as editor of the influential "Report on the Algorithmic Language Algol 60" with its pioneering use of BNF was recognized. BNF is a three-letter acronym with various meanings: Big Name Fan Bibliothèque Nationale de France Backus-Naur form, a formal grammar for expressing context-free grammars Botswana National Front Biological nitrogen fixation British Nuclear Fuels, or more properly, BNFL British National Formulary, the standard drug reference manual for...

External links

• http://www.naur.com/