Computing with Prolog

Requiring only a general knowledge of programming, this text introduces the fundamentals of the PROLOG language and illustrates applications for business and organizational use. Focusing on real-world uses of PROLOG and the techniques of logic programming, it shows how PROLOG is actually used in relational databases, expert systems, and natural language processing--demonstrating its power in situations where conventional procedural languages cannot produce the most elegant programs. The book's excellent writing style makes technical topics easy to understand while showing how PROLOG can be used to create ``user friendly'' programs. Key concepts--such as list processing, recursion, input and output handling, and many others--are explained in detail, giving students a solid grasp of techniques. One of the larger PROLOG programs is converted to LISP, providing a comparison of the 2 artificial intelligence languages on a function-by-function basis. Includes definitions of commonly used terms in a separate ``toolkit,'' advanced topic sections, numerous exercises, and an outline of current research trends.