278 lines
9.6 KiB
Plaintext
278 lines
9.6 KiB
Plaintext
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Posted-By: auto-faq script
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Archive-name: prolog-faq
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Original-by: jamie@cs.sfu.ca (Jamie Andrews)
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Version: 1.6
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Last-modified: 8/26/92 by jamie@cs.sfu.ca (Jamie Andrews)
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This article contains the answers to some Frequently Asked
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Questions (FAQ) often seen in comp.lang.prolog. It is posted
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(twice a month) to help reduce volume in this newsgroup and to
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provide hard-to-find information of general interest.
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This article includes answers to the following questions.
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0. General information
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1. What is the Association for Logic Programming?
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2. Where can I get a public-domain, free Prolog for (the IBM PC,
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the Mac, Unix)?
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3. What commercial systems are available?
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4. How do I get in touch with my Prolog's users' group,
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sales representative, or technical support line?
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5. I think language X is better than Prolog. What do you think?
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6. My Prolog prof assigned me this problem. Can you help
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me with it?
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7. Can you suggest some books on Prolog?
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Please forward suggestions for further questions and
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answers to the current FAQ maintainer, jamie@cs.sfu.ca (Jamie
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Andrews).
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Changes in this version:
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* Corrected addresses for SICStus Prolog.
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* Added more info on getting SWI Prolog.
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* Added info on getting Modular SB-Prolog.
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* Added info on getting SB-Prolog.
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* Added addresses for Sepia.
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* Added addresses for LPA.
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* Added address for the Prolog Vendors' Group.
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* Somewhat gentler answer to question 6.
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* Updated info on BinProlog.
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* * *
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0. General information
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The newsgroup "comp.lang.prolog" discusses the language
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Prolog and other "logic programming" languages. Logic
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programming languages, in general, are programming languages
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which incorporate some of the language of mathematical logic;
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unification and backtracking search are common operational
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features. For more background information about Prolog, see the
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list of books in Question 7 of this list.
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* * *
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1. What is the Association for Logic Programming?
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To keep up with the current state of logic programming
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technology, readers can join the Association for Logic
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Programming (ALP) and receive their Newsletter. For details on
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how to join, contact:
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Cheryl Anderson,
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ALP Administrative Secretary,
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Dept. of Computing,
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Imperial College,
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180 Queen's Gate,
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London, SW7 2BZ, UK
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Email: csa@doc.ic.ac.uk
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Fax: +44 71 589 1552
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Phone: +44 71 589 5111 x5011
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The Prolog Resource Guide (v0.6) was printed in issue 5/1
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of the Newsletter (Feb. 1992). This lists information concerning
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Prolog Archives, Books, Suppliers, etc. It is available by
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anonymous FTP from machine "cs.sfu.ca", directory
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"pub/prolog-resource".
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To send in Newsletter contributions, write to:
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Andrew Davison,
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Dept. of Computer Science,
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University of Melbourne,
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Parkville,
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Melbourne, Victoria 3052,
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AUSTRALIA
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Email: ad@cs.mu.oz.au
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Fax: +61 3 348 1184
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Phone: +61 3 344 7207 / 5230
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Telex: AA 35185
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* * *
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2. Where can I get a public-domain, free Prolog for (the IBM PC,
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the Mac, Unix)?
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The following are anonymous-FTP sites for free Prologs
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which are either in the public domain or are "copy-lefted"
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(permitted to be copied with some restrictions on commercial use).
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(Please note that for extensive development work, users
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will probably want a robust interpreter or compiler with good
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debugging facilities and a standard syntax, among other things.
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While public-domain systems are a valuable service to the
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community, they do not necessarily have all these things, and
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users should weigh carefully what they want to do against the
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capabilities and costs of the available systems.)
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For the IBM PC:
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- BinProlog 1.39, anonymous FTP from clement.info.umoncton.ca
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(139.103.16.2), directory BinProlog. Compiler for IBM PC 386.
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E-mail: tarau@info.umoncton.ca (Paul Tarau).
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- Anonymous FTP from aisun1.ai.uga.edu, directory ai.prolog;
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download "Contents" first. Two systems.
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E-mail: mcovingt@uga.cc.uga.edu (Michael Covington).
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- SWI Prolog, anonymous FTP from swi.psy.uva.nl, file
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"pub/pl-1.6.1.tar.Z"; or from ftp.th-darmstadt.de
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(130.83.22.253), directory pub/programming/languages/prolog.
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Portable, copy-lefted.
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For the Apple Macintosh:
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- Anonymous FTP from aisun1.ai.uga.edu, directory ai.prolog;
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download "Contents" first.
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E-mail: mcovingt@uga.cc.uga.edu (Michael Covington).
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- Open Prolog, anonymous FTP from grattan.cs.tcd.ie (or
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134.226.32.15), directory languages/open-prolog. In
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binhex/stuffit form.
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E-mail: brady@cs.tcd.ie (Michael Brady).
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For Unix systems:
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- BinProlog 1.39, anonymous FTP from clement.info.umoncton.ca
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(139.103.16.2), directory BinProlog. Compiler for SPARC and Sun/3.
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E-mail: tarau@info.umoncton.ca (Paul Tarau).
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- SWI Prolog, anonymous FTP from swi.psy.uva.nl, file
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"pub/pl-1.6.1.tar.Z"; or from ftp.th-darmstadt.de
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(130.83.22.253), directory pub/programming/languages/prolog.
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Portable, copy-lefted.
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- SB-Prolog, anonymous FTP from cs.arizona.edu, directory
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"sbprolog/v3". Version 3. Copy-lefted.
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- Modular SB-Prolog (= SB-Prolog version 3.1 plus modules),
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anonymous FTP from ftp.dcs.ed.ac.uk (129.215.160.5), file
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pub/dts/mod-prolog.tar.Z . Interpreter for SPARC.
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E-mail: mprolog@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Brian Paxton).
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* * *
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3. What commercial systems are available?
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Many commercial systems are listed in the Prolog Resource
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Guide, available by anonymous FTP from machine "cs.sfu.ca",
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directory "pub/prolog-resource". The list of commercial systems
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was compiled by Chris Moss, of Imperial College. The rest of
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the Resource Guide was compiled by Dag Wahlberg, of Uppsala
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University.
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The latest version of the Guide was published in December
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of 1991. Unfortunately, due to the time commitments involved,
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no one is able to maintain the list at this time.
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Readers should also note that the newly formed Prolog
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Vendors' Group is contactable electronically via the Secretary,
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Al Roth. His email is "alroth@cix.compulink.co.uk".
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* * *
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4. How do I get in touch with my Prolog's users' group,
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sales representative, or technical support line?
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Here are some e-mail addresses of these contacts, listed
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alphabetically by company or major product name. Please note
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that sometimes phoning or writing to the company will get better
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response than e-mail.
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LPA:
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Sales: lpa@cix.compulink.co.uk
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Tech support: lpa@cix.compulink.co.uk
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PDC Prolog:
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Information: pdc-request@pdc.dk
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Sales: sales@pdc.dk
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Tech support: support@pdc.dk
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ProLog by BIM:
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Contact: prolog@sunbim.be (Kathleen Pierco)
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Quintus:
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Users' group: quintus-users-request@quintus.com
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Sales: sales@quintus.com
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Tech support: teksup@quintus.com
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Sepia:
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Users' group: sepia_request@ecrc.de
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Tech support: sepia_request@ecrc.de
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SICStus:
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Users' group: sicstus-users-request@sics.se
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Sales: sicstus-request@sics.se
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Tech support: sicstus-bug@sics.se
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Turbo Prolog:
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Turbo Prolog is the older name for PDC Prolog (see above).
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* * *
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5. I think language X is better than Prolog. What do you think?
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These debates rarely result in any productive discussion.
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To some extent, one's favourite language is based on irrational
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ideology.
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However, many people now agree that different languages are
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good for different things. Prolog seems to be good for problems
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in which logic is intimately involved, or whose solutions have a
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succinct logical characterization. Like other interactive,
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symbolic languages, Prolog is also good for rapid prototyping.
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Also, please note that there are many different "Prologs"
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and other logic programming languages available, all with
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different capabilities.
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* * *
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6. My Prolog prof assigned me this problem. Can you help
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me with it?
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If your instructor assigned it to you, he or she probably
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wanted you to do it yourself. If it's an introductory Prolog
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course, your question might be elementary to most readers, so it
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might be a waste of network resources to ask it. Please ask
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your instructor, a friend, a teaching assistant, or a local
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newsgroup for help first.
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That being said, there are comp.lang.prolog readers who
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would be glad to help people making a legitimate attempt to
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learn Prolog.
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* * *
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7. Can you suggest some books on Prolog?
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The Prolog Resource Guide (see above, question 3) contains
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a listing of books up to December 1991. It is available by
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anonymous FTP from machine "cs.sfu.ca", directory
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"pub/prolog-resource".
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Here are some of the most popular books on Prolog.
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_Programming in Prolog_. William F. Clocksin and Christopher S.
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Mellish. Springer-Verlag, 1987. (Introductory.)
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_The Art of Prolog: Advanced Programming Techniques_. Leon
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Sterling and Ehud Shapiro. MIT Press, 1986. (Advanced.)
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_The Craft of Prolog_. Richard A. O'Keefe. MIT Press, 1990.
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(Advanced.)
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_Foundations of Logic Programming_. John Lloyd.
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Springer-Verlag, 1988 (2nd ed). (Logic programming theory.)
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* * *
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Acknowledgements
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For help in putting together this FAQ, thanks to Andrew
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Davison, Mike Brady, Michael Covington, Stephen Bevan, John
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Dowding, Thilo Kielmann, Paul Singleton, Dave Moffatt, Dani de
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Ridder, Per Bilse, Chris Moss, Kathleen Pierco, Paul Tarau,
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Jonathan Kamens, Jan Wielemaker, Dag Wahlberg, Micha Meier, Don
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Sannella, and Clive Spenser. Special thanks to John Dowding for
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suggesting a good format for the list, and to Chris Moss and Dag
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Wahlberg for their work on the Prolog Resource Guide.
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--Jamie Andrews.
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jamie@cs.sfu.ca
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