[ad404b8a372f2b9]

You could tell me the answer which isn't all that complicated and you seem unable or unwilling to do.

When you post a project somewhere, or generally start a discussion with people, it's generally wise to establish a minimum context about what you are talking about and not require the participant to read a 40 year old paper, or lecture, or so on, just to understand the basis of your premise.

Even more so online when the work is multiplied by the number of people who will read your post and a two-sentences description can solve it.

[lolinder]

Honestly, if you're this opposed to exploring Backus's 1977 Turing Award lecture, you are not the target audience. This isn't some obscure paper that's been lost to time, it's been cited 96 times in 2022 alone [0]. It's a huge freaking deal in the PL community, and OP is perfectly justified in referencing it and moving on.

[0] https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_ylo=2022&cites=7066062...