A Tutorial on PROLOG

PROLOG is a programming language based on the use of mathematical logic—specifically the first order predicate calculus. The name is a contraction for “Programming in Logic”. PROLOG was developed in 1972 by Phillippe Roussel of the AI Group (Groupe d’Intelligence Artificielle) of the University of Marseille. Specifically, it is an outgrowth of research there on automatic theorem proving. PROLOG has been widely used by AI researchers in Europe and Japan. In fact, the Japanese have made it the basis for the software side of their “Fifth Generation” computer project. PROLOG is currently used in a wide variety of areas, not just for automatic theorem proving. It is an excellent tool when on wants to do symbolic (as opposed to numerical) computation. Until recently, PROLOG has been less widely known in this country—perhaps due to the “not invented here” syndrome