Panini's grammar and Boolean logic

[Devaraya Prabhu]

> 
> 	In the April, 1993 newsletter of Motilal Banarsidass, it
> states that Rick Briggs (who works for NASA) has argued that Panini's
> grammar is based on Boolean logic.  I was wondering if anyone was
> aware where he might have advanced his thesis or if there are any
> other sources where this same thesis is discussed.  Thanks in
> advance.

	I'm not sure that I even understand what exactly is meant by the claim 
"Panini's grammar is based on Boolean logic"!!  However, the following might
shed some light on issue:

	Backus-Naur Form (BNF) is the most commonly adopted notation for 
describing the grammars of computer languages (such as Pascal, C..)  According 
Ingerman(*), this notation is similar to the one employed by Panini in 
describing the rules of Sanskrit grammar.  No, I have not read the source.
I am just quoting from the foot-note of a text book..

(*) Ingerman, P.Z. [1967] "Panini-Backus form suggested", Communications
			   of the ACM, 10:3, 137.

	Best Rgds - dev prabhu

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Devaraya Prabhu      				prabhu at cs.tulane.edu  
Dept of Comp Science
Tulane University 
New Orleans

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