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Ask HN: Good books to learn Prolog?

10 points by JustAGeek ↗ HN
I'm on a quest to if not actively programm in it but at least take a look at different programming paradigms. One of the few things missing are logic programming languages. There are quite a bunch of books about Prolog, which is good on the one hand but on the other it renders it difficult to pick one to read. :D

I'd prefer a book that doesn't start with very basic stuff, eg explaining loops, if-statements and what not, I know that already. ;) "Programming Erlang" by Joe Armstrong was really perfect in that regard.

So, dear HN, do you have any recommendations? Or maybe there is something better to check out than Prolog?

13 comments

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jherdman
Prolog is a pretty neat language. It feels really strange at first, but as you grow used to its weirdness, it becomes much more enjoyable.

I learned Prolog in university using the book "Prolog Programming in Depth", by Michael A. Covington, Donald Nute, and André Vellino. Frankly, I didn't use the book all that much. It was a handy reference now and then, but it wasn't essential. Perhaps there's some good tutorials online?

sb
one of the best texts around is "the art of prolog, advanced programming techniques" 2nd edition, by leon sterling and ehud shapiro.

however, by now, it seems a bit dated (e.g. on the constraint logic programming side), so there is another recommendable text "programming prolog for artifical intelligence" by ivan bratko

so if you can afford, i would recommend both texts for self-study.

plinkplonk
"one of the best texts around is "the art of prolog, advanced programming techniques" 2nd edition, by leon sterling and ehud shapiro."

Seconded. This is a really good book, though a bit hard to find, the last time I checked.

shaunxcode
I got mine right off of amazon - and yesterday I noticed you can buy it straight from the MIT press page as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Prolog-Second-Programming-Techniqu... (if you click on the used link there is a hardback going for 13 bucks right now)

http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&... (they use asp..? regardless brand new hardback for 65)

plinkplonk
hey Thanks I didn't know new copies were available. I have a falling-to-pieces used copy.
steve19
I have got a copy of "The Art of Prolog" sitting on my desk :) It is pretty good, but I agree with you, it is dated.
BigO
if statements and loops in prolog oh man
JustAGeek
Maybe it could've occurred to you that I don't know Prolog yet, thus my post here. :P
mahmud
How good is your Lisp?

LISA does forward chaining within CLOS, so you always have a real language on standby when you need one. JESS has Java.

Prolog: what a frustrating language to use in the Real World and what a delightful lab language.

fogus
I loved Prolog Programming for Artificial Intelligence by Ivan Bratko.
JustAGeek
Thanks everybody for the suggestions!