Logic programming2011HT
|
|
Course plan
No of lectures
30 h
Recommended for
PdD students in computer science
The course was last given
2010
Goals
Provide a solid introduction into the paradigm of logic programming.
The course presents the logic programming paradigms, which differ from that of
mainstream programming (i.e. procedural and object oriented). The latter can
be seen as still related to the architecture of computer hardware. Their main
concept - a mutable variable - is an abstraction of a RAM memory cell. In such
languages, roughly speaking, programs are descriptions of sequences of
computational steps. The role of the steps is to modify the state.
In contrast, programs in (pure) logic programming describe the tasks of the
computations. There is no state and mutable data; this makes it easy to reason
about complex programs.
Logic programming (LP) employs (a subset of) the language of the standard first
order logic as a programming language. In principle, a program is a set of
axioms describing a problem to be solved; the computed results are logical
consequences of the program. In practice, programs also describe how the
results are computed; this can be modified by the programmer without changing
the logical meaning of the program.
Hence reasoning about the meaning of programs and their correctness
(declarative semantics) can be separated from that about program execution
(operational semantics). Efficient implementations of LP exist.
Prerequisites
Some mathematical maturity, for instance given by introductory courses on
discrete mathematics, formal languages and automata theory, and logic.
Some experience of programming; familiarity with some programming languages.
Organization
Lectures.
Exercises and project work.
Contents
[subject to modifications]
- Definite clause logic programs, their declarative and operational semantics.
- Prolog as an implementation of LP.
- Programming examples, LP as a declarative programming paradigm.
- Negation in LP, including Answer Set Programming.
- Reasoning about logic programs (formal & practical).
- Extensions of "classical" LP. Constraint logic programming.
Literature
Articles, handouts, book chapters.
U. Nilsson and J. Maluszynski. Logic, Programming and Prolog (2ed).
Lecturers
W. Drabent
Examiner
W. Drabent
Examination
Home assignments and a minor project.
Credit
5hp maximally
Comments
Page responsible: Director of Graduate Studies