Prolog is a programming language, but a rather
unusual one. Prolog'' is short for Programming with
Logic'', and the link with logic gives Prolog its
special character. At the heart of Prolog lies a
surprising idea: don't tell the computer what to do.
Instead, describe situations of interest, and compute by
asking questions. Prolog will logically deduce new facts
about the situations and give its deductions back to us
as answers. Why learn Prolog? For a start, its say what
the problem is, rather than how to solve it'' stance,
means that it is a very high level language, good for
knowledge rich applications such as artificial
intelligence, natural language processing, and the
semantic web. So by studying Prolog, you gain insight
into how sophisticated tasks can be handled
computationally. Moreover, Prolog requires a different
mindset. You have to learn to see problems from a new
perspective, declaratively rather than procedurally.
Acquiring this mindset, and learning to appreciate the
links between logic and programming, makes the study of
Prolog both challenging and rewarding. Learn Prolog Now!
is a practical introduction to this fascinating
language. Freely available as a web-book since 2002 (see
www.learnprolognow.org) Learn Prolog Now! has became one
of the most popular introductions to the Prolog
programming language, an introduction prized for its
clarity and down-to-earth approach. It is widely used as
a textbook at university departments around the world,
and even more widely used for self study. College
Publications is proud to present here the first
hard-copy version of this online classic. Carefully
revised in the light of reader's feedback, and now with
answers to all theexercises, here you will find the
essential material required to help you learn Prolog
now. |
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