Prolog Programming

Continued

Chapter 1: Introduction to Prolog

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Chapter 1: Introduction to Prolog
 Defining relations by facts

 Defining relations by rules

 Recursive rules

 How Prolog answers questions

 Declarative and procedural meaning of programs

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Fig 1 Fig 2 Fig 3

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1.3 Recursive Rules
To add a new predecessor relation in our family program

For all X and Z,

X is a predecessor of Z if
X is a parent of Z.

In Prolog,
Rule 1 For Fig 1
 predecessor(X,Z) :-

 parent(X,Z). 4
In our family program
 parent(pam,bob).
 parent(tom,bob).
 parent(tom,liz).
 parent(bob,ann).
 parent(bob,pat).
 parent(pat,jim).

So Tom is a direct predecessor of Liz and indirect

predecessor of Pat.
Rule 1 is just to find a direct predecessor 5
Family program again
In Prolog,
Rule 2 For Fig 2
 predecessor(X,Z) :-

 parent(X,Y),
 parent(Y,Z).
Rule 3 For Fig 3
 predecessor(X,Z) :-

 parent(X,Y1),
 parent(Y1,Y2),
 parent(Y2,Z). 6
What about more depth for predecessor
 predecessor(X,Z) :-
 parent(X,Y1),
 parent(Y1,Y2),
 parent(Y2,Y3),
 parent(Y3,Z).

The program will be lengthy and work to some extent.

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An Elegant and Correct Formation of Predecessor
For all X and Z,
X is a predecessor of Z if
there is a Y such that
(1) X is a parent of Y and
(2) Y is a predecessor of Z.
In Prolog,
 predecessor(X,Z) :-

 parent(X,Y),
 predecessor(Y,Z).
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Recursive Rules
 predecessor(X,Z) :-
 parent(X,Z). % for direct predecessor

 predecessor(X,Z) :-
 parent(X,Y),
 predecessor(Y,Z). % for indirect predecessor

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Questions to Prolog
 Who are Pam’s successors?

 ?- predecessor(pam,X).

 Answer:
 X=bob
 X=ann
 X=pat
 X=jim
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Chapter 1: Introduction to Prolog
 Defining relations by facts

 Defining relations by rules

 Recursive rules

 How Prolog answers questions

 Declarative and procedural meaning of programs

11
1.4 How Prolog answer questions
 A question to Prolog is always a sequence of one or
more goals
 To answer a question, Prolog tries to satisfy all the goals
 To satisfy a goal means to demonstrate that the goal is
true
 In other words, to satisfy a goal means to demonstrate
that the goal logically follows from the facts and rules in
the program

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How Prolog answers continue ---
 If the question contains variables, Prolog also has to
find what are the particular objects ( in place of
variables) for which the goals are satisfy.
 The particular instantiation of variables to these objects
is displayed to the user.
 If prolog cannot demonstrate for some instantiation of
variables that the goals logically follow from the
program, then Prolog’s answer to the question will be
“no”.

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Mathematically,
 Prolog accepts facts and rules as a set of axioms

 the user’s question as a conjectured theorem

 then prolog tries to prove this theorem

 that is, to demonstrate that it can be logically

derived from the axioms

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Example
Axioms are :
 All men are fallible.

 Socrates is a man.

A theorem logically follows from these two axioms

 Socrates is fallible.

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Example continue ---
For all X,
if X is a man then X is fallible.

In Prolog,
 fallible(X) :- man(X). % All men are fallible
 man(socrates). % Socrates is a man
 ?- fallible(socrates) % Is Socrates fallible?
 yes

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our family program
parent(pam,bob). /* The following are rules */
parent(tom,bob). offspring(Y,X) :- parent(X,Y).
parent(tom,liz). grandparent(X,Y):-
parent(bob,ann). parent(X,Z),
parent(bob,pat). parent(Z,Y).
parent(pat,jim). sister(X,Y) :-
female(pam). parent(Z,X),
male(tom). parent(Z,Y),
male(bob). female(X).
female(liz). predecessor(X,Z):- %pr1
female(pat). parent(X,Z).
female(ann). predecessor(X,Z):- %pr2
male(jim). parent(X,Y),
predecessor(Y,Z).
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Example from our family program
Question
 ?- predecessor(tom,pat).

Need to check if it satisfies one of two rules pr1 or pr2

predecessor(X,Z):- %pr1 (direct)
parent(X,Z).
predecessor(X,Z):- %pr2 (indirect)
parent(X,Y),
predecessor(Y,Z).
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The complete execution trace to satisfy the goal
predecessor(tom,pat)

predecessor(tom,pat)

by rule pr1 by rule pr2

parent(tom,pat) parent(tom,Y)
predecessor(Y,pat)

no Y=bob by fact parent(tom,bob)

predecessor(bob,pat)

by rule pr1
parent(bob,pat)

yes 19
Important Points
Procedure
 A set of clauses about the same relation is called a
procedure
 for example, predecessor relation is a procedure since
it is defined by two clauses

 Comments
 /* This is a comment */
 % This is also a comment
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Chapter 1: Introduction to Prolog
 Defining relations by facts

 Defining relations by rules

 Recursive rules

 How Prolog answers questions

 Declarative and procedural meaning of programs

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1.5 Declarative and procedural meaning of programs
 the declarative meaning
 concerned with the relations defined in the program

 what will be the output of the program

 the procedural meaning

 how this output is obtained, that is,

 how the relations are actually evaluated by the

Prolog system

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Summary
 Prolog programming consists of defining relations and querying about
relations
 A program consists of clauses. ( facts, rules, questions)
 A relation can be specified by facts or by stating rules about the relation
 procedure is a set of clauses about the same relation
 querying about relations, by means of questions
 In prolog, to establish whether an object satisfies a query is often a
complicated process that involves logical inference, exploring among
alternatives and possibly backtracking. All this is done automatically by the
Prolog system and is , in principle, hidden from the user
 The declarative view is advantageous from the programming point of view.
 Nevertheless, the procedural details often have to be considered by the
programmer as well.
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End of Chapter 1

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