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Professor Emeritus, University of Copenhagen (2005)
Citation
For fundamental contributions to programming language design and the definition of Algol 60, to compiler design, and to the art and practice of computer programming.
Full Citation
Peter Naur was editor of the hugely-influential Report on the Algorithmic Language Algol 60, and directly responsible for the definition's rigor and for the language's elegance, uniformity and coherence. He extended a syntax definition notation due to John Backus to create the widely used Backus-Naur Form (BNF). He used BNF to define the Algol block-structured language, with dynamic and scoped variables, with recursion, call-by-name - all in 17 pages. Each of these concepts was a landmark advance in programming language design. The report was a breakthrough in establishing programming languages as objects of scientific study.
With Jørn Jensen, Naur implemented the GIER Algol compiler, one of the first to deal fully and correctly with the language's powerful procedure mechanisms. Its other innovations included abstract-type checking and code-coverage testing.
Naur pioneered the methodology for writing correct programs. He introduced the use of assertions (he called them "general snapshots") used to prove a program matches its specification, and was a leader in structured programming - by introducing block-structured control flow and scoping in Algol 60, and thereafter advocating a structured programming style (later characterized as "goto-less" programming). This work was continued very successfully by Floyd, Dijkstra, Hoare and others.
An astronomer by training, Naurs work is formal and precise; but it displays an exceptional understanding of the limits and uses of formalism and precision. Throughout his career Naur has been a leader in establishing Software Engineering as a discipline - converting program design from an art form to a subject with sound basic principles. He defined an influential computer science curriculum, called Datalogy, based on fundamental principles. His recent work has focused on programming as a human activity - exploring the social and ethical aspects of computing, and also the problems of writing programs to cater for evolving requirements.
Biographical Information
Born in Frederiksberg near Copenhagen, 1928. From the age of 12 I got deeply interested in astronomy and soon began to be active in computations of the orbits of comets and minor planets. My experience goes back to computing with the aid of logarithms and includes a long period of work with desk calculators. My work in this area began to be published in 1943. A major project in this line was an orbit for a comet, based on a preliminary calculation done by Grosch, published in 1945. I started at the Copenhagen University in 1947, finished my degree in 1949. 1950-1951 I spent in Cambridge, England, where I used the EDSAC to compute the motion of planets and comets. This was a decisive exposure to computers and their programming. I remained mostly an astronomer until 1959, but still retained important ties with computing, in the USA in 1952-1953, again in Cambridge in 1953, and as a consultant to the building of the first Danish computer DASK at Regnecentralen, Copenhagen, from 1955. My final switch to computing as a full-time activity happened early in 1959, when I joined Regnecentralen. I was immediately assigned to the group that was preparing to exploit the new language, ALGOL. Regnecentralen was host to a European ALGOL implementation conference in February 1959, which led to the circulation of the ALGOL Bulletin, a discussion letter, from Regnecentralen. As editor of the ALGOL Bulletin I was drawn into the international discussions of the language, and was selected to be member of the European language design group in November 1959. In this capacity I was the editor of the ALGOL 60 report, produced as the result of the ALGOL 60 meeting in Paris in January 1960. Thus when ALGOL 60 was produced I was a computer-oriented astronomer, recently switched fully to computing.
The design of ALGOL 60 was followed immediately by my participation at Regnecentralen in the development of compilers, for ALGOL 60, in several versions, for several computers, during the years 1960 to 1967, and for COBOL during 1963-1965. From these projects my interest gradually turned to the central methods and techniques employed within them, and to the fundamental concepts of computer methods and to software engineering. Since 1969 I am professor of datalogy (computer science) at Copenhagen University. My later interests have been mainly in the area of programming methodology.
Turing Lecture
Presentation
Computing vs. Human Thinking (53 minutes)
Additional Links
Dane's Creative Genius Revolutionized Computer Language Design
Software Pioneer Peter Naur Wins ACM's Turing Award
Peter Naur
CIM MOF BNF "Backus Naur Form"
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