Guides/Language FAQ/J BNF

Is there a BNF description of J?

No, nor can there be. BNFs describe context-free grammars, and J's grammar is not context free. A name's class (the type of that token) is determined at run time, and can change within a single executable statement. For example:

   x =. (x=.+/ . *)~ x =. i. 4 4

However, one can understand J's lexing and parsing without a BNF. The formal description of its lexing rules (rhematics/word formation) can be found in Part I of the Dictionary, and its parsing rules (syntax/grammar) in Part II § E.

An easier and more interactive introduction to J's grammar can be obtained from the trace script shipped with J. Simply load 'trace' and then trace 'J sentence' to see how the J sentence is parsed:

   load'trace'
   trace'(+/ % #) i. 5'
 --------------- 3 Adverb -----
 +
 /
 +/
 --------------- 5 Trident ----
 +/
 %
 #
 +/ % #
 --------------- 8 Paren ------
 (
 +/ % #
 )
 +/ % #
 --------------- 1 Monad ------
 i.
 5
 0 1 2 3 4
 --------------- 0 Monad ------
 +/ % #
 0 1 2 3 4
 2
 ==============================
2

Note that the trace facility only covers parsing, not lexing. For a clearer understanding of J's rhematics, one may study the definition of word formation (i.e. monad ;: in terms of dyad ;:).

   mjx=: ' ';(a.{~,65 97+/i.26);'0123456789_';'.';':';''''
   t=. 0 7 2$0 
   NB.        S    A    9    D    C    Q    X
   t=.t,_2]\ 0 0  2 1  3 1  1 1  1 1  4 1  1 1  NB. 0 space
   t=.t,_2]\ 0 3  2 2  3 2  1 0  1 0  4 2  1 2  NB. 1 other
   t=.t,_2]\ 0 3  2 0  2 0  1 0  1 0  4 2  1 2  NB. 2 alphanumeric
   t=.t,_2]\ 0 5  3 0  3 0  3 0  1 0  4 4  1 4  NB. 3 numeric
   t=.t,_2]\ 4 0  4 0  4 0  4 0  4 0  5 0  4 0  NB. 4 quote
   t=.t,_2]\ 0 3  2 2  3 2  1 2  1 2  4 0  1 2  NB. 5 even quotes
   sjx=: t
   
   f=: (0;sjx;<mjx)&;:
   f y=: '(2*a) %~ (-b) (+,-) %: (*:b)-4*a*c'
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--+-+--+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|(|2|*|a|)|%|~|(|-|b|)|(|+|,|-|)|%:|(|*:|b|)|-|4|*|a|*|c|
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--+-+--+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   (f -: ;:) y
1
   (f -: ;:) '1 2 3 +/ . * 4 5 6'
1
   (f -: ;:) 'gm=: */ %:~ #'
1

If you're unfamiliar with finite state machines in J (i.e. dyad ;:) the Lab "Sequential Machines" provides brief introduction.

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