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    A collection of research articles in the form of a book edited by two Indian born Professors of an American University.

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    116 просмотров59 страниц

    Computing Science in Ancient India

    Загружено:

    Prof. (Dr) Ananda M Ghosh.
    A collection of research articles in the form of a book edited by two Indian born Professors of an American University.

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    COMPUTING SCIENCE IN ANCIENT INDIA Sw 8 OVE T.R.N. RAO / SUBHASH KAK Not only the sign for zero, but also the binary number system, the ideas of metarules, algebraic transformation, recursion, hashing, mathematical logic, formal grammars, and high level language description arose first in India. This book of contributions by the leading scholars in the world in the history of Indian science presents an overview of these seminal contributions to computer science. It also includes chapters on models and computation in astronomy and cognitive science, ‘VIGNI INSIONV NISONSIOS ONUNANOD tor six syllables from ‘Chandasastra COMPUTING SCIENCE IN ANCIENT INDIA Edited by ‘TRN. RAOISUBHASH KAK Center for Advanced Computer Studies University of Southwestern Louisiana Lafayette, Louisiana 70504 ‘The cover luseaton is 4 Prana for sk sylsbles of laghus and represening 0 ard of the Binary Number System om Pingilt = (Chandabsasra Science of verse me Library of Congress Catalog Number: 9886952 ISBN Number: 0.9656512.0.0 (©1998, TRN. Rao and Subhash Kak Published by Te Cemer for Advanced Compute Studies Lafayee, LA" 70804-4330, Computing Science In Ancient India ‘TERN. Rao and Subhash Kak (Editors) Preface. “ ae sana (Chapter 1 Introduction SUBUASH KA. 3 =) Chapter 2. An Overview Of Ancient Indian Science ‘SUMASH KAR. ° (Chapter 3 Binary Numbers In Indian Antiquity B. VaR NOOTES a (Chapter 4 The Katapayadi Formula And The Modera Hashing TTechnigae ANAND. RAMAN. 38 (Chapter § The Panini-Backus Form In Syntax OF Formal Languages TRN. Rao, 0 LF STAAL se (Chapter Formal Structures I Indian Logie LF. StAML. 59 Chapter 8 Planets In The Ved Literature DAviD FRAWLEY _ es CChapter9 The Speed OF Light And PuranieCormalogy SURHASH Kak 0 Chapter 10 On The Science Of Consciousness In Ancient Ina SUBHASH KAx. eto Notes, 106 Inder. : or Preface ‘This book “Computing Science in Ancient Inia isan cugrowth fom the talks pesenied a the “Louisiana Symposium on Aiea Indian ‘Scieness" (LSAIS) in Lafayente, Lousiana on October 25 1997. That ‘symposium was. sponsored joimly by the University of Southwestern Lousiana (USL), Acadian Inian Association (AIA), andthe World Association for Vedi Sienoes (WAVES). Participants fom the U.S. and India tok part in tht conference. It was decided tht a youre bock of carly Indian consibutions to computing science be pat ott "The mei inthe book must e taken a a nrodution wo the nian ‘ontibutions tothe scence of computing. We have taken conibations ‘rom different ine periods, ranging from the Vedi tothe medieval Apa fom chaps that eal with computing wechniques, we also inode material ‘on astronomy, cosmology, and cogntive scence that ell ws someting ‘Shout the problem areas wee the computing Science nodons were aplid nis hoped tat these chapters wl provide 2 Mawar of Indian ksence tha the rested reader can learn abou ther topics by examining papers that are elerenced at he ed of te chaps "The book sare with an overview of Indian scence (Kak), The nex tee chapters deal wih the description of binary numbers (van Noten the Katgpayadi noction and i equivalence 1 hashing that it vaed compte systems (Raman. and the Pain-Backs form to describe igh level computer language based onthe Seas of the great prammarian Pann (Ra). ‘The next two chapters (Sus!) describe some technical aspects of Pann's grammar and Indian lope. Note thatthe Pasnan ste (600 BCE" has teen shown tobe equalen tothe Turing machine and the ise of mathematical logic im Tadia tok pice cenines before is reducovery in Europe! ‘The next chaper (Fawley) shows how one needs ingenuity in decoding Indian eX Is show tha Indian myths preset formation "egarding the motions of he planets. The lar wo chapter (Kak) del with ‘cosmology and cognitive science Many. indvidals have contibwed tough nancial and ‘xgaizatonl support i arranging the “Lousian Sypostan on Arcs Indian Sciences” and in publcauon ofthis book and. we acknowiedse rao thee support ere. De. Vidyadhar Mrs. Parvati Akkarajy Dr. Duane Blumbers, Dean, Calle of Seienes, USL Me. Nayan & Dr. Geetha Daa. Dr. Suen Ms Sushi Dwived Me Charlee Mrs. Sin Ee Dr Margaret Francie, CACS, USL ‘De. Jagatiah de Dr. Padmins Gop, Kaplan, LA (Me. Makund & Mr. Vian Hanssrante ‘Me J.Rao& Mr. Laxmi Kast x. Shankar & De. Manjula Kotapall Dz. Padumane& Dr, Lela LatshmPrasad Mr. Pack Landry, Senior Sytem Admunistatr, CACS, USL Mr Red Leile (Red Lerile’s Health & Racquet Clb) Dr. Gary Maro, Vice President fr Academic Alay, USL. Dr. Mukesh & Mrs, Varsha Meh Present, Acadian inn Associaton Mr Seharan Marugaih, Director. Inernaional Suet Office, USL Mr Pravin Neurol Mr Sridhar Nooth, Presiden India Students Assoriation, USL. Dr. Nabendu & Ms Palas Pl Mr Bip & Mes, Urvashi Pandya Mr Alay & Mis Binds Path Mr Jay & Mis. Ustaben Pe Dr. Suresh & Ms. Usha Patel, Kaplan, LA Dr. Lewis Pyenson, Dea, Gradite Schl, USL, ‘Mr Mala Rao ‘Mr Chanéalant & Mas. Meens Shah ‘Mic Nitin Ms. Varsha Shan ‘Dr Bhu Dev Sharm. President of WAVES (Xavier Universi) Dr. 1P. & Mr. Shakuras Singh "Mr- Lous Tauzn Mr, Robert Tauzn (Louie's Cr Wash & Express ae) TTRN, Rao and Subhash Kak Introduction: Subhash Kak Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, Louisiana CCompuser scence is emering a new threshold where insight from boty. paeology. and physics are being hamescd to endersand ow shure performs some computaons beter than any machine AS we Prepare forthe ture i ko meaning lok Dak nto the epi ttle scence, Thee what tales uo adi. isrial eeach ofthe pas two oe thre decades has shown thatthe ey ieas of computer cence tos in Indi Everyone knows that th pn fr ero was invented in India about two thousand years ao (et sh 1985) Is much ese known that importa concept ik hat of recrson, algebras watafornation, mathematical lope abut langage detention. brary numbers combinatorics also aco in India several conan Plo thse ediscovery inthe West “The Indian culture sea provides us extensive materia, ross very bwoad timespan 1 help us undetsand the earest history of teas The ancien Indian texts ae layered in such a fashion that we ean se the fraual development of mathematical, phys, Linguist, and chological ideas (eg. Feurscin etal 1995. Sedenberg 1978: Staal {88} We Ond tar ibe ancient Indians were peat inereved in comparing methods In geometry, asvonomy, amma. music and cher ‘elds They wete also itrsied vt copmive since where they were 30 advanced that heir insights may yet useful 1o modern sence “The undersundig of the cholopcal framewrk of the Indi civiation has changed realy nthe ast few years dart revolutionary ‘decoveres in art andactaeolo, Art ‘The atest Indica (Figur 1) preserved om rocks in th paleo ‘wesc and aclibi sages (40.000 BCE. onwards) and the sil a ‘he sulpre of the Indu Saat phe which listed from aboot 000 BCE w 1990 BCE According to Waka, the beginning of the Tock art have been taced to 40,000 years BP (before present) in th decorated ‘onvich gael rom Rash, dated sing adocarton chai, Tr Bp we a Renate any nine maf Ea RA RR Figure 1. Evolution of lean rock art according ta Wakankar (192) 2 ‘An understanding ofthis sbsract concept ius hve Been part of se ‘hougtsyvem ofthe art. Theis anther contin withthe cena lace ofthe notion of nite in Inte Inna tough “The abstract andthe ionic element in Indian rock art ae diferent from the more astra ancient European cave pining. There is aso erence in the naar ofthe community and te sate inthe Western and the Indian chilzaons inthe earhest urhan phase. The West his ‘monumental temple, tombs, places whereas he society in India appears to ve bee governed by asacred ode. Literature (One aspect of the Indian Werary adton, wich is at least four thousand years od isis imagination. The epic Mohabharats mentions ‘embrye Wansplanation, multiple tts from the same ets bate with fnratercsvials who ae wearing ai-ight suit, and. weapons of mas Sesrucion. Th Ramayana meats at uavel. The Bhagovaa Puran. ‘matteval encyclopedic text. has episodes related to diferent passage of {ie for diferent chservers which very similar 10 what happens i the theory flay “The notion of self in the Upanishads embodies a very subtle understanding of observers and of realty. Yoga. Vasshtha and Tripurarahasya presenta deep discussion ofthe nature of consciousness. ‘uranic conology gives an age of the vnivere that sin close sgrement wih the modem valve, We find examples of accurate {stronomcal rumbers inthe ary texts, Perhaps, this accuracy was de 10 the knowiede of biological cles that reflect asononcal processes, such a8 menses according othe period ofthe moon, The understanding ofthe ‘er was bead alngby an understanding ofthe mes ‘Ae these example similar to the science fistion imagination of our own times? There no evidence af material science that could have spowned such imagination. The Indian texts ae either fll of the mest sStonishingly sky guesses or we have nt yet unrtod et knowledge framewar. Science (Our undersanting of Indian science has improved greatly inthe ast ‘veaty years the Vedic times il he novone of tule and metre emerged. Subsequety, not only the sign for zero, but also the binary number system, algebraic transformation, recursion, hashing, mathematical logic, formal grammars and high level lnguage description arose frst in Tedia These ideas Helped fser a keen study of astonom. medicine _hyses,pacholy, gusts, and the mateo mie References, Feuenicin, G.. Kak, S. Frawley. D. 1955. dm Search ofthe Cradle of Canon. Whesion ah, G. 1985. From One to Zero. New York Seidenberg, A 1978. The origin f mathematics. Archive for History of ‘Brat Stent. 18, 301-382, Stal F 1988, Universalis, Chicago. ‘Tyagi, GS. 1992. “Decorative invicste paters in Indian rock an.” In Tock Artin the Old Word ed M. Lerblanchet, 303317, New Dl Walaa. VS. 1992, "Rock pining in Inia In Rook Arti the Old World ed. M. Lorbaneet, 319.336, New Deli An Overview of Ancient Indian Science ‘Subhash Kak Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, Louisiana ‘Te Indian ration looks at is own beige a he “way of seience ‘The eats par of is remembrance is lauded a the “Veda word which means Knowedge. Some scholar have looked st ths lam with surpicon, Suggesting tha this Knowledge amounted to no more than metaphyseal Speculaions. But new findings in archaeology, ssronomy. hse of ‘iene and. Vedic scholarship have shown thatthe traditional iw is Substaialycorect. We now kiow thr Vedic knowledge embraces Dies. mathematics, astronomy, lpi, cognition and other disciplines ‘We find tha Vedi science 1s the atest slence that ar come down ‘mankind. This bas sipnifcantimplicaions in ow enderanding. of ‘hehistory of ideas and the evoltion af ety cision ‘The reconstructions of cur earliest scence ate based moony on the Vedas but ao on hei appendices called the Vedangas ‘The ux Vedangat zal wit Lalpa pertormance ofril ihe baie of geomet, mathematics and calendries: sll, phoaetcs; chhandar, etna Stractures nindia, etymology: wjakarana grammar, and rosha, {stonomy and oer cyclical phenomena.”Then there are aferaisic ‘scriptions tn the various Vedi book that tll us ao about scien dea tose ines, ‘Brily the Vedic texts presenta wiparte and ecunive world view, ‘The universe is viewed a toe repens of earth space, and shy with the comesponding eniies of Agni Indes, and Vistve Devah (all gos) Counting separaely te Joining repos lends 1 aoa of five caepories Where. as we see in Figure J, water separates eat and fie, and Sir separate eae ether. Th Vedic rial the three regions ae assigned differen fire altars Furthermore, the five eatepories are represen ier of tars of fe layers. The great alas were built of thousand fick to varity of dimensions which coded sronomict hnowedge (Kak 19a; 19934) Fo of (ay ees es pea|-(= ag EI E ela eff) Figure 1. From the tripartite modelo five categorie of analysis, Inthe Vedic wold view, the processes inthe sk, om eth, and within the mind ar taken to be consected. The Vedic ri were aware tat ll 27: lege fd divdeby2,> 14: gure vide by 2. >7 Tagha fd divide by 2,4 nn ide by 2.2 lagha vie by 231 laghi “Te ast column reads rom op o, bottom gh gur loghe gure apha lag, 0 ‘A glance atte earlier described prazira (Table 1) shows that. indeed, ‘he metal pater we have obieed sno. 54. Inthe way Pinal solver ‘he problem of reorsiucting a metal pater if ely the rank ner it Inown. The procedure is equivalent to that of fading the binary ‘epreseation of decimal number, Historical Importance ‘The importance of Pingala's discovery is twofold: i implies that he was aware af place-value system of numerical otion and tals shows that he was working with 2/numenical base oer than base 10. In the fetloming paragraphs I propose to termine whether Pngala's discovery Sprang ffom a known triton, or wether he wat the originator of his theory Pingal's notation represents two separate historical developments of numerical sysems: tha of the placevale system of aeration and hat (Of the recognition of numerical systems aot based on owes often. Tah ‘dace evidence tht four world cviizaton have invented placa ‘stem: the Babylonians he Indians, the Chinese with hei od numerals ‘nd ntey independent the Mayans of the New World" Was tia inuened by the other Ot Word cules? ‘The Babylonian place value sjstem was sexagesmal, cr based onthe ume: 60. Its inuenc on Indias fund in theater aonornel works, ‘bunt in ery Inia "The Chinese dacovered » good decimal pace valur system during the Han Dynasty Gd century B.C." Yet tee is no dence to stow hat he Indians knew of this stem. ‘Within India isl evidence fr systens of umbering and cour eo fom two source: pe the counting stem ofthe fangs sl ‘wo the representation of numbers by sumeraie We stall now tiey ‘examine the evidence about the ances Indian counting syst by Hoking AX the soures! he ancient Indi languages, the ole Ica td the ‘Sensi, being an Indo-European language has inert system of ousting in ens. The nmbers trom | tough 10 have aria nn, bat ‘he numeration cominues. systematically by tens from twenty thrugh ine. "The werd fo tn” inthe enumeration of mamas followed expesions for 10+ 1, 10+2,et. The munerals 2,30. ae aration fon a compound dtr, ore. The hundreds again ate ated on a now ame, Satan, and so are towards and one hnred thousand The ‘ouring system of language tends to Haine the manner in which mbes afewnten®> At Prngals's time the. reviing language Was ‘Sansiit or ne of ts derivatives and so people coud in tens History im India begins with the Vedic civilization where in the Tatra Sami of the Black Yayurveda (1000 B.C) we have the fr ‘writen indication of a numeration sytem based on he 10. Dire ways of counting ae presen, not with figures, but with the mines ef the umber: "i 8 pe ‘epee el tr a ans Canech a cee howard... ten thousand, one hundred thourand, ten hundred thousand tn milion. one hued mlion, ten tourand millon, one hundred thoasang lion. en hunted thousand lion (GS. vii2. 19-20, Keio 1914) ‘The assumption undrying the decimal notion is that reading fom ef origh tins decimal umber each dig represent value elt lonetnth oft let neighbor. This proce i fa formally defined by the ‘mathematician Ayabata 1 (5 476 AD) who wets that “he vase of = Place (ofa numer) is tn imes that ofthe (preceding) pace: (sthindt ‘thanam dafganan 398) Laer sl, in approximaly the Tih century ‘AD. we find ths picile reened in a difereat form in. Vssa's commentary ‘on Puaija’s Yoparbos 313" “path” Adve Serasthane Stam datasthine dae: Kd cal haithine” “jt 8 one ah the same numeral thd) inthe 100-portion is 100, in the TO-poston s ten and is Lin the I-posiion’ Though thse remarks postdatePingalt's ‘resumed de thy ae no ever conadite By sates nthe erate ‘hat imply that's non-decimal place vale system was nue ‘The Indian wring system aguin supports the decal place vale system From a few centuries befor Pingala's time we fave mamerals cntaied in the inscitons of Nnephit ‘on the weer scarp of the Deccan Placa, north and eas of Bombay. They boing to the Brn! alphabet which is writen fom lef 1 rip (sce Fig. 1). Inthese number, the digit withthe highest value s writen on the lef ad the lowest number to teright eg. 12's writen as 102. o¢ O= = and 17 =? © The numerals often, but nt sees, receded by words spelling ext the umber, From the fat tha independent symbols existe for "10" 20 0", “100, ec. we can infer tha the counting sytem undeiyng these numerals was founded ona dentate. OF cure not pre pace Salue system because in such a sysem there would be mo need for | u loc foe fo Re |e ae [et as |S Aa les Ris |o xe dos 7 7 u » s x Es 2 ‘This classification makes ic esy for us to determin he aos of 2 ass jens serialnumber inthe rid. For example, if we wee shed. ps) the scale ofragt number 83, we woul Know tat ses the noe Fs since 65+ 36412, Since 6 mod 36= 29 and 29 ~ 6 4 1='5, we would know tha it uses the ith posible combination of Rand Ga, which is Dard = ‘Also sigce 26 mod 6 5, we know it wes theft possible combination of Da an Ni wich A and B. Ths the sale of Janka rapa number 6S te CDEF.GA muB. This means tat ven the name of a rag, one need ony search for ite raga number. Tho aoes can be mecbanily derived fom it number. ‘lowever an Indian rags has cera adional musical properties the: ‘than the nots ise. Frequent, a anya raga that iments sme properties from it Janae rags is described i erm ofthe modifations done te [areat that resulted im that paricular raga These are sully cused ‘der a dscrition ofthe Janaka raga and Hs descendants cr, concise Forms, given sucinlyaloapside i tame in a ble, To ge complec information about «Tanaka rag. then. a table tearch to finds poston ‘ven is mame is presupposed. Thngs would be even simpler we coud ‘ere the numberof aga tcl tom its name This prescly what ‘was done by te South Indian musiolopes Each raga was named i ach {vay tata Kaupayad warlauon of theft wo slits of Hs name ‘ives us is mumber inthe able For example the rags Mechatasan ives 1 the number 68 (drved trom te fiat two sylbles Me and Cha) aad Vnespar gives four Thus ss now posible o go deci to he rag’ postion as ble rom its name without having fo 6 a seach. “The exact person who coded the names of the rapas Sec W bein ispue baci Tay ertsn tha sch a codification wae compet by the fend of the 18 century Aiyyanga” sates that although Vek lays claim to this arrangement in 1660, it should be credited to his ‘grandson Moda Venkata inthe erly 18th crtry, who aed 2 8 ‘Supplement th former's work Chcurdand Palas, pan Hy Cameco Yom Aan Pr. Disasion From an observation ofthe Kaapayah scheme, seme tha here are several important differences between ahd modem hashing techrgot, [Notbiy, a hashing formula gives valid bucket number for any given sme bt the Kaapayad scheme gives meaningful resaks for ony sme ‘ames. For example a true hashing sig wil ever eve a mamber ‘reser han 72 nthe ove split, whatever the vale hashed, bu the Katapayadi heme wil. 7A hashing algorithm can also tke any inpt and return & number ‘oresponding ti postion ina ble whereas in the application of 8 Kaupeyadi scheme above, the names of the tapas have’ en coeflly ‘hose forthe parpose Ths. ic Seems mare probable tat the Kaapayad formu wat inened asa mpemont lecnige 1 help people remember Jong numbers. Indes, the verse fom Sadramamale coding the digo seems to imply jut that In hs sense, the Scheme a a exact opposite ofthe modern hashing technique. which aim to dente number from ‘mes, inet aims wo derive names fom numbers. ‘But then is application i= South Indian muscology, where there are only 72 admsible root rapa, i leary dsced a Mecraing te able lcokup operation fom the constraints imposed on iby te se ofthe table This isthe basic am of hashing technige. A good tahingalgrtim seeks o perform the operations of inerton, deletion. nd loaktp wih onstan ime compen ‘The inset an delete operations ae eer to tte application otlined above. since the raga names were deieatly ‘coined and already insened ito the table. But once the tuble bad been ‘onstrated lockup lech a constant ime beast ofthe application ofthe Katapayadi scheme. The metvaton for this mus ave Bee ima to 2 siuaton that warns the application of «hashing sttegy now —sonsant tune abe lookup. The Fest oo is the same. Here, i obvious hati tears stong similarity to the moder hashing ecgu. To be se, the Katapayadi scheme was inally developed as a mpemonic echiqu, even the ‘raculure of education in early Ind” Inded, St” Monier ‘Willams remarks" that even the grammar of Panini wae mainly intended 10 aid the memory of teachers rather] than leamers by the brig ‘possible suggesion;” Neverbclss is porsible for sich amen {echniqueto radually evolve iio a scheme tat ears atone sir 10 ‘ar mae ashing tchgue I satel ear ook ths particular ‘plication of the Kaupayad scheme and to comme up with hashing sategy for some modern equirement. But whether the scheme influenced Jar development ofthe hashing techaigue isin doubt Ke not certain pM Wa Wn Bans Chetan Se Se a heer any Indian scholar with knowledge of this wchnique was lose asscite of any of the proponents of carly ashing. ANd Hie otlikly thatthe proponents of hashing knew about the Katapayai ecnique. Thus. the most one can say at this stage 9 that the Katpayadi scheme can be thought of as an early” precursor 10 the modern hash functions, an its application in South Indian musicology bes, in retospec, an interesting simlartyto moder ash ables. Acknowledgments ‘The suhor ir eratefulo Richard Salomon, Deparent of Asian languages and Iteratr, Univers of Washington, and Takao Hayth, Science ab Enginering Research Insite, Desisha University, Japan, for help #0 ‘rocoring some references. Dr Hayashi also read the paper and offer {ever ubefl comment The Panini-Backus Form in Syntax of Formal Languages TRN. Rao Center for Advanced Computer Studies * University of Southwestern Louisiana Lafayette, Louisiana ‘yas Houston (1991), mone of his wetings, mention his dcovery| of the won’s oldest ving language’ Sanskrit. the language of ancient India and Vee cvzation. He sites hs “1 was perfectly lero me that had come upon apres langage language hat invoke he spin an iexbauce welling of Stal inspraton. The ancient called it devanon, the language of gods “Where did it come from’? — A langage infiaitly mere sphsieaed| than any of cur modern tongues" ‘The sophisicaion Howson refers to 4 about the formalism and struct ofthe language. For computer sie, nth they of formal languages the wots “Torna” reer tothe fct tat ll the race for the language are explicitly sated in terms of what sings of symbol cold orc. withgt any ambiguity and the eed for interpretations Paseo ‘mena shill. Sankt nor only Bas very ch nfecoorl setae bt 1s fet was recognized erly by grammarians and it has conta to the ‘mystigue of the language ‘A famous gamma of Sanskrit was compiled by Panini) who ‘oars around 500 B.C and his work stdin hasbeen studied in India for cemares,inspieg mary commentaries. The petige of Pini {Zammar i s0 ges thatthe carer grammars ofthe language were lost, Pam's grammar uses variety of formal teciniguesincleding recursion, transformations, and metres, Here we examine one speci feature of his scture at hasbeen ed also fm the representation of highevel langues. ‘The formal sracture of comput programming languages was introduced inthe 1958-60 period by eminent cents Jone Backus (1958), ER PRBS Re ane tnt ny Sta sand Pewee Naw (1963). Tey beaded UNESCO conferences on Tiernaional algorithmic language ALGOL 60.3 Tanguage "sutable for capessing a le class of numerical processes in 4 fom sfc ‘once fr dct automatic translation to the language of programas fomaic computes.” ‘What is BNF notation?” BNF isan acronym originally for “Backus Normal Form that was later changed to Backus Naur Form. BNF notation canbe found in any book oe propramming Innruages. “The following taken from Marcy and Ledgad (1986) explains the smetsynbols of BNF, “The mets-symbols of BNF ae s= meaning is defined a” t ‘meaning “er <> iplebrackes mid to surround category names ‘The angle rackets distinguish syntax rles names (also called nor terminal symbos from terminal symbols which ve writen excl as they ae be repesenied. A BNF rule defining + nonterminal ha the fem ontrminal = sequence of alternatives consisting of sings of terminal enontermial separated by the meta-symbl | For example, the BNF production fr minangage is program = progr Eecaation sequence> hee “sttemen sequence> ‘This shows that minitanguage prosm consis of the keyword “progam” followed by the declruion sequence, ten te keyword epi andthe statement sequence, lly the Keyword “end” ab a semeolon Several auors have used sight extensions of BNF for clarification or ‘xc of use which we wil 9B no. ‘A pot af ime here 2 comespondence in ACM Communications fiom Donald Knuth (1964) arguing on behalf of the aronym BNF to represent Backus Nau? form rather than Backus Normal Fort and ves three reton for ha 1. gives proper creat to both Backue and Naur for their contbuons| 2. Inpreserves the often used abbreviation “BNF 3B is not ely onal for in any conventional sete o special or canonical frm} and hence is ost 3 Yor Kut’ suggestion prevailed and BNF has bees kent tnd for Backus ‘Nar Form Another major pont of interest for us is snoter comespondence in ACH Conmanicaion: tiled. “Panini-Backus Form” by PZ. Ingerman (196, wen we reproduce ere verbatim. uth 196), ina Let the Editor of CACM. makes the pine thatthe metsynactc notation used in. eg. the ALOOL. 60 repo (Naur 1963) shoul be rename Tn parr. he observes the wel ceded fact thatthe so-called Backur Normal Form indeed nt ‘normal frm in ay sens. The purpore of this ete io ober a Backus was ot the fist to uw the frm with which hs name as become asceined, although be did, inded cover i indepen ‘Dr. Alexander Wilheimy bas called to my ation work by Panini Pani was a scholar who floured between 400 BC. and 200 B.C; perhaps hs mos sigficam ork was the compton of = ‘grammar of Sankt. In order to describe the (ahr completed) Fules of grammar. he invented a notation which is equiva HS over to that of Baas, and his mary similar proper given the te wo which the noaton was put its porsible Wo deny sactues| ‘equivalent tte Backus“ and tothe we ofthe meta brackets "=> land >" enclosing suggestive mmex. Pann avoided te necessity for ‘arpa Boy Raye RA Pinte fle Cs. Pe ‘Hoh pt en et an apy Si Ca Va the character =" by wring the meta recat op th right rather han the lef se or Ingerman (196) for sila noon. Sine is wadioonal in profesional ccs to give credit where credit is duc, and since there i clear evidence that Pons was fhe lier independent invent ofthe novation, may T suggest the name “Panin-Bacias For a bela more cesable one? Net nly doe ave due credit, bat aie avons the minute ofthe word “Normal” Summary ‘The above makes the powerful plea that Backus-Naur Form (BNF) ‘ould be uly calle Pann Bockus Foon (PBF), as "we must give credit where cei is due” Pini grammars, which costed of over 4,000, Blgebrac aes and metres have been staid by 4 numberof scolas. Kak (1987, reviews the Pininian approach to natural language processing (NLP) and compares it with he caren knowledge representation systems ‘of Arif Inteligence, and argues that Pinan ste generative rules ‘and metres cold asi in frther advances in NLP. Atheratcle by Staal inched inthis book) discusses the consistency of the sym Of rules of Panna ested by Fowler's Automaton’ These are among the Imaveloas contributions of ancient Inia 6 computing seeaces. References Backus, John (1989). The syne and semantics of the proposed Intemational algebraic language of the Zirch ACM-GANM Conference. Pro. lerat. Cnt. Pre. UNESCO, Pare Hoason, Vyaas (1991). Foreword to “Gods, Sager and Kings” by David Fravley, Passage Pes, Sal Lake Ciy, ish Ingerman, PZ. (1966). A SymoxOnened Translator, Academic Press, ‘New York 1967 “Panini: Backus Form Sugeeste,” Comm. ACM 10.3,» 137 ‘ren ET, Mane mana PSYCO-pr on, eA, Kak S.C. (1987. The Paninian Approach to Natural Language Processing. “nerational Journal of Approximate Reasoning. 1-1F7-130. uth Donald (1968) Backus normal form vs. Backus Naur frm. Comm, (ACM 7, 12,735-736, Marcony, M. & Ledgard, H. (1986). The World of Programming ‘Languages, Spinge-Verag, Bet, 4 [Nau Peer (El) (1963). Revie report on the algorithmic language “ALGOL 60, Comm ACM 6,1 1-17 ‘Vase, S.C. (1962), The Atyd>C. Moa Banas, Dei nda Panini Tested by Fowler’s Automaton* LF Staal Department of Philosophy Department of South & Southeast Asian Studies University of California Berkeley, California In How ordered ar Pins rales?” Professor Murray Fowler cases ‘valid quesion: cn the consistency of the Asta (abrevae ss 4) ‘tested by an aulomaon?. Before answering such a question, one shod specify wha kindof consiseney and what kid of astomatn one ha ‘ind. shal epin by considering these preliminaries (1 and 2) ad wind {Up with a bie discussion of the order of Pinin's ras (3), showing thereby tat Fowler's earory examination” (45) no ony inadequate Dt slro mseaing. LL Constemy is penerally defined asa property of system of eles. ‘Such a system is called content when itis mpouible o derive wih the hulp ofthe rules two result which ar, in some seme, comtaiccey et incompatible. A is consent in thi sense on ascoun of the rule 142, ‘hich says that in ease of contradiction Between two rues. te following fale preva This requres the ries of Ato be ordered ina special Lz" For Fowler, consistency rquites well-orderedness of linguistic ‘les defined as “an anangemet such hatte elton of pre supposition ‘maintained in regular progression” (5). More exp, a sequence of fules Ry». Reis aed welLordred if and oly ifr no fle Rs there ba Tne rleR presupposeé by Rr iad nly (By ER) [1 SiThe additonal condton, which shoal old inorder that he defiaon {esl hat seus trough Ain the sme manne in which ccs (The diferent kinds ofA ea now be dstingised by means of bracketed SRbscips sich as A Aye Then the A in defnion | and aasogouly indefinton Tsou be Specie flow e2hath p)~ achat, ayBly. ate 5) Wh tm Aan ya hs vB. ate), hie applied wo the case of occurence of “yoke in my min it ‘sevidem tha ach, (sole, my mind) * ach amok, Hence + Aacimae make 3 ax, fie), which eases the vali of V emote, re) There art several oer inserioas 10 the crsinaldefitons,

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