
The Programming Language Called Classical Chinese [video] - luu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBhg2p8aAQ0
======
amalag
The worlds first context free grammar is that of Panini and his description of
Sanskrit around 2500 years ago.

From
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backus%E2%80%93Naur_Form](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backus%E2%80%93Naur_Form)

> The idea of describing the structure of language using rewriting rules can
> be traced back to at least the work of Pāṇini (who lived sometime between
> the 7th and 4th century BC). His notation to describe Sanskrit word
> structure notation is equivalent in power to that of Backus and has many
> similar properties.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%81%E1%B9%87ini](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%81%E1%B9%87ini)

Comparison with modern formal systems Pāṇini's grammar is the world's first
formal system, developed well before the 19th century innovations of Gottlob
Frege and the subsequent development of mathematical logic. In designing his
grammar, Pāṇini used the method of "auxiliary symbols", in which new affixes
are designated to mark syntactic categories and the control of grammatical
derivations. This technique, rediscovered by the logician Emil Post, became a
standard method in the design of computer programming languages. Sanskritists
now accept that Pāṇini's linguistic apparatus is well-described as an
"applied" Post system. Considerable evidence shows ancient mastery of context-
sensitive grammars, and a general ability to solve many complex problems.
Frits Staal has written that "Panini is the Indian Euclid."

------
kinosang
As a Chinese, I think it's wonderful but there are some mistake with part-of-
speech.

~~~
pygy_
As a non-Chinese, I would love if you could expand on that comment :-)

Does it change the general point?

~~~
voaie
Well, it is obvious that the CFG model (of core grammar) is over simplified in
the speech and somewhat misleading even though there _is_ ambiguity in it.
Anyway, it is just a simple talk. But I think the speaker is not really
talking about programming language but more about computational linguistics...

