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Revision as of 20:10, 29 February 2016
In computer science, a Van Wijngaarden grammar (also vW-grammar or W-grammar) is a two-level grammar which provides a technique to define potentially infinite context-free grammars in a finite number of rules.
Description
The formalism was invented by Adriaan van Wijngaarden to define rigorously some syntactic restrictions which previously had to be formulated in natural language, despite their essentially syntactical content.
Applications
Typical applications include:
- The treatment of gender and number in natural language syntax
- The well-definedness of identifiers in programming languages
The technique was used and developed in the definition of the programming language ALGOL 68.
It is an example of the larger class of affix grammars.
See also
External links
- Van Wijngaarden grammar @ Wikipedia
