chomsky and compiler development

Hi All,


Is anyone familiar with how Chomsky's Universal Grammar impacted the
development of modern computer compilers? We're trying to find a good
summary - like an essay - for the Software Literate which illustrates
the key applications of his Linguistic Theory in writing Compilers.


Any information or referrals to good sources would be much appreciated.


Please reply here or via email.
[Although linguists were working at the same time as some of the early
compiler work, and there's a lot of overlap in the concepts, e.g., a
linguist's phrase structure grammar is the same as a compiler's
context free grammar, there's been remarkably little
cross-fertilization. I took a course in transformational grammars in
about 1974 and at the time it struck me as trying to create nuclear
energy by rubbing two sticks together, with a lot of debate about the
shape of the sticks and details of wrist motion. I don't think the
universal grammar, the idea that people all have a grammar for
language hard-wired in our brains, affected computing at all. -John]

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