Guy Steele on Inconsistent Notation in Computer Science

Guy Steele · Talk · YouTube title: 2017 ACM PPoPP Keynote: It's Time for a New Old Language

Why it's here

HN recommends it as an excellent talk on notation problems, useful when reading papers or designing a new metalanguage.

What it covers

Guy Steele's PPoPP 2017 keynote surveying the history of computer science metanotation, including BNF, inference rules, and overline notation. He argues the field's notations are inconsistent and fragmented.