Computer Laboratory – Course material 2007

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Prolog

Lecturer: Dr A.C. Rice

No. of lectures: 6

Prerequisite courses: Foundations of Computer Science, Algorithms I and Logic & Proof

Aims

The aim of this course is to introduce programming in the Prolog language. Prolog encourages a different programming style to Java or ML and particular focus is placed on programming real problems which are suited to this style. Practical experimentation with the language is strongly encouraged.

Lectures

Introduction to Prolog. The structure of a Prolog program and how to use the Prolog interpreter is described. Unification is revisited and we look at some simple programs.
Arithmetic and lists. Prolog's support for evaluating arithmetic expressions and lists is covered. The space complexity of program evaluation is discussed with reference to last-call optimisation.
Backtracking, cut, and negation. The cut operator is introduced for controlling backtracking. We consider negation as failure and its uses.
Search and cut. Prolog's search method for solving problems is discussed. Graph searching exploiting Prolog's built in search mechanisms is examined.
Difference structures. Difference lists are introduced and applied to example programs.
Constraint Logic Programming. Constraint Logic Programming (CLP) is introduced. We examine how CLP addresses particular limitations of Prolog programs.

Objectives

At the end of the course students should

be able to write programs in Prolog using techniques such as accumulators and difference structures.
know how to model the backtracking behaviour of program execution.
appreciate the unique perspective Prolog gives to problem solving and algorithm design.
understand how larger programs can be created using the basic programming techniques used in this course.

Recommended reading

* Bratko, I. (2001). PROLOG programming for artificial intelligence. Addison-Wesley (3rd ed).

Next: Semantics of Programming Languages Up: Michaelmas Term 2007: Part Previous: Logic and Proof Contents