Life
John Backus was the B in BNF and leader of the team that invented Fortran, the first high-level computer language. He received the Turing Award and the National Medal of Science. He died a few days ago in his home in Ashland, Oregon at age 82.
I met John about two years ago and we got to know each other pretty well. Except, it wasn’t until I read his obituary in the New York Times that I realized he was a computer science legend. Over the years I’ve spent countless hours looking over Backus-Naur Form specifications for different languages, and only today did I realize that the Backus in BNF referred to John’s last name.
However great a computer scientist John was, he was an even more stellar human being. I loved how he looked at the world, including himself. He helped me realize a few things about life that will stay with me for as long as I live. I love you John, and I’ll miss you.