User talk:Black Walnut

Archive (subpages) 1

USB cables
I saw that you tagged "The USB 2.0 specification requires cable delay to be less than 5.2 ns per meter (which is close to the maximum achievable speed for standard copper cable)." as in need of a citation. I assume you are not contesting the 5.2 ns/m requirement, it appears in the standard as stated (section 7.1.16, page 166). Therefore I believe it's the statement in brackets that you feel needs to be justified, but why? Compare with the speed of light in vacuum and notice that it says "close". Please explain. -- Woseph (talk) 07:15, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Backus-Naur form
Sorry I revised the early ALGOL history I originally added and removed the table changes you made. My bad on misreading the metasymbols of BNF. The <> weren't described as symbols but as delimiters of metalingust variables. In fact is valid to use them as language synbols.

I appreciate you interest and hope you look over the changes.

My main interest was in metacompilers. I am now retired. I worked on many compiler projects and wrote an ad vented metacompilers that included CWIC as a subset of its sublanguages. I got interested in computers in 1965. I was around and talked with some of those early pioneers. I had only looked at BNF in ALGOL docs until recently. And then not in great detail. I learned CWIC, an advanced Shorre metacompiler the included LISP 2 and other advanced feature such as symbol tables and a link loader of sorts. Sense I retired I have been looking at wiki compiler related subjects. In researching early metacompilers I found contradictory statement between grammars actually used and allowed in defining formal languages. And that got me researching BNF as I found in my old book it being more described like an analytical grammar. Further reading seams I was wrong and it is nether a productive or analytical (reductive) as originally used in the ALGOL 60 report. First it would be best described as a publication metalanguage. I use publication to distinguish it fromay a grammar. If you look at the ALGOL 60 comment description part I added. I think it illistrates why it shouldn't be called a grammer. But it the overall use in the ALGOL 60 report the ilistrates what I am trying to explain. I think at some point it was reduced in scope becoming a Chomsky CFG. Probably along with the introduction of yacc.

I never met Backus. But in the 60's a compiler was described as a huge if statement. It's not far fetched to think that BNF was created from boolean equations. But that wouldn't be in line with it being a production grammar. Which it was not as used in the ALGOL 60 report.

It would be interesting to know the language changes and dates. I think the K&T  C book contains the BNF of C in an appendix.

At any rate. I won't you to know the reason for my change that resulted in removing the table you added. I have created tables an know it takes a bit of work.

Steamerandy (talk) 10:09, 20 April 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for copy editing Marbella
Hi Black Walnut, I just wanted to say thanks for the copy editing work you did on the Marbella article, most of which I wrote. Well done. Best, Carlstak (talk) 01:56, 22 July 2020 (UTC)


 * @ Carlstak:


 * Thank you for reviewing my changes and further improving on them! Also, great catch removing that comma -- I got carried away there!


 * Question: in your edit summary, you wrote "ce". What does that mean?


 * --Black Walnut (talk) 03:05, 22 July 2020 (UTC).

It means "copy edit". Carlstak (talk) 11:46, 22 July 2020 (UTC)


 * Thanks! --Black Walnut (talk) 16:46, 22 July 2020 (UTC)

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