Pāṇini ↔ Computer Science

A grammar that reads like a program

The Aṣṭādhyāyī is a finite set of rules that generates an open-ended language, written in a meta-language with its own conventions for scope, inheritance, ordering and conflict. Sūtra-bot walks through the ideas a programmer will recognize, with runnable examples. Each claim cites its source, and we point out where the analogies break down.

1. 01 Sūtras as rewrite rules Write A → B / C _ D, run it on real Sanskrit, and watch a rule engine work.
2. 02 Pratyāhāras as compression Range encoding, bitsets, a provably optimal ordering, and a zero that remembers.
3. 03 Metarules & interpreters Paribhāṣās tell you how to execute the other rules, like an interpreter for a DSL.
4. 04 Grammars, BNF & Pāṇini Formal grammars, the "Pāṇini–Backus form" proposal, kāraka roles, and where the analogy holds or breaks.
5. 05 Rule ordering & specificity CSS specificity, the Elsewhere Condition, feeding and bleeding, and asiddha as counterfeeding.
6. 06 Write your own sūtra A tiny rule language: compose a sūtra from case-marked words, run it, and compare with Pāṇini.