Logic vs.

Functional Programming

We will discuss about the differences between Logic programming and the traditional
functional programming languages. We can illustrate these two using the below diagram −

From this illustration, we can see that in Functional Programming, we have to define the
procedures, and the rule how the procedures work. These procedures work step by step to solve
one specific problem based on the algorithm. On the other hand, for the Logic Programming,
we will provide knowledge base. Using this knowledge base, the machine can find answers to
the given questions, which is totally different from functional programming.
In functional programming, we have to mention how one problem can be solved, but in logic
programming we have to specify for which problem we actually want the solution. Then the
logic programming automatically finds a suitable solution that will help us solve that specific
problem.

Imperative Programming vs. Functional Programming

Imperative programming is a paradigm of computer programming where the program describes

steps that change the state of the computer. Unlike declarative programming, which describes
"what" a program should accomplish, imperative programming explicitly tells the computer
"how" to accomplish it. Programs written this way often compile to binary executables that run
more efficiently since all CPU instructions are themselves imperative statements.
To make programs simpler for a human to read and write, imperative statements can be grouped
into sections known as code blocks. In the 1950s, the idea of grouping a program's code into
blocks was first implemented in the ALGOL programming language. They were originally called
"compound statements," but today these blocks of code are known as procedures. Once a
procedure is defined, it can be used as a single imperative statement, abstracting the control flow
of a program. The process allows the developer to express programming ideas more naturally.
This type of imperative programming is called procedural programming, and it is a step towards
higher-level abstractions such as declarative programming.

Imperative programming languages

 Ada
 ALGOL
 Assembly language
 BASIC
 C
 C#
 C++
 COBOL
 FORTRAN
 JAVA
 MATLAB
 Python

The functional programming paradigm was explicitly created to support a pure functional
approach to problem solving. Functional programming is a form of declarative programming. In
contrast, most mainstream languages, including object-oriented programming (OOP) languages
such as C#, Visual Basic, C++, and Java, were designed to primarily
support imperative (procedural) programming.

With an imperative approach, a developer writes code that specifies the steps that the computer
must take to accomplish the goal. This is sometimes referred to as algorithmic programming. In
contrast, a functional approach involves composing the problem as a set of functions to be
executed. You define carefully the input to each function, and what each function returns. The
following table describes some of the general differences between these two approaches.

PROLOG

Prolog is an AI programming language. It belongs to the family of logic programming languages.

Prolog is a declarative language, in which computations are carried over by running queries over
the relations (which represent program logic), which are defined as rules and fact. Developed in
1970, prolog is one of the oldest logic programming languages and one of the most popular AI
programming languages today (along with Lisp). It is a free language, but many commercial
variants are available. It was first used for natural language processing, but now it is been used
for various tasks such as expert systems, automated answering systems, games and advanced
control systems. Prolog has only one data type called the term. A Term can be an atom, number,
variable or a compound term. Numbers can be float or integers. Prolog supports lists and string
as collection of items. Prolog defines relations using clauses. Clauses can be either rules or facts.
Prolog allows iteration thorough its recursive predicates.

Prolog or PROgramming in LOGics is a logical and declarative programming language. It is

one major example of the fourth generation language that supports the declarative programming
paradigm. This is particularly suitable for programs that involve symbolic or non-numeric
computation. This is the main reason to use Prolog as the programming language in Artificial
Intelligence, where symbol manipulation and inference manipulation are the fundamental tasks.
In Prolog, we need not mention the way how one problem can be solved, we just need to
mention what the problem is, so that Prolog automatically solves it. However, in Prolog we are
supposed to give clues as the solution method.
Prolog language basically has three different elements −
Facts − The fact is predicate that is true, for example, if we say, “Tom is the son of Jack”, then
this is a fact.
Rules − Rules are extinctions of facts that contain conditional clauses. To satisfy a rule these
conditions should be met. For example, if we define a rule as −

grandfather(X, Y) :- father(X, Z), parent(Z, Y)

This implies that for X to be the grandfather of Y, Z should be a parent of Y and X should be
father of Z.

Other Example:
friends (raju, mahesh).
singer(sonu).
odd_number(5).

Explanation:
These facts can be interpreted as :
raju and mahesh are friends.
sonu is a singer.
5 is an odd number.
A typical prolog query can be asked as :

Query 1:?- singer(sonu).

Output: Yes.

Explanation : As our knowledge base contains the above fact, so output was 'Yes', otherwise
it would have been 'No'.

Query 2: ?- odd_number(7).
Output : No.
Explanation : As our knowledge base does not contain the above fact, so output was 'No'

The heritage of prolog includes the research on theorem provers and some other automated
deduction system that were developed in 1960s and 1970s. The Inference mechanism of the
Prolog is based on Robinson’s Resolution Principle, that was proposed in 1965, and Answer
extracting mechanism by Green (1968). These ideas came together forcefully with the advent of
linear resolution procedures.
The explicit goal-directed linear resolution procedures, gave impetus to the development of a
general purpose logic programming system. The first Prolog was the Marseille Prolog based
on the work by Colmerauer in the year 1970. The manual of this Marseille Prolog interpreter
(Roussel, 1975) was the first detailed description of the Prolog language.
Prolog is also considered as a fourth generation programming language supporting the
declarative programming paradigm. The well-known Japanese Fifth-Generation Computer
Project, that was announced in 1981, adopted Prolog as a development language, and thereby
grabbed considerable attention on the language and its capabilities.

Some Applications of Prolog

Prolog is used in various domains. It plays a vital role in automation system. Following are
some other important fields where Prolog is used −
 Intelligent Database Retrieval
 Natural Language Understanding
 Specification Language
 Machine Learning
 Robot Planning
 Automation System
  Problem Solving

Prolog is a logic programming language associated with AI and computational linguistics. It has
its roots in first-order logic, the formal logic, unlike many other programming languages. Prolog
is mainly a declarative programming language. It is possible to express the program logic as a set
of relations, facts and rules. Therefore, a computation can be initiated by running a query over
these relations.

Prolog was one of the first logic programming languages. It helps various tasks such as theorem
proving, expert systems, term rewriting, type systems, natural language processing and
automated planning. It also helps to create GUIs, administrative and networked applications.
Furthermore, Prolog is suitable for rule-based logical queries such as searching databases, filling
templates and voice control systems.

LISP

Lisp is a family of computer programming languages. And the most famous Lisp dialects used
for general purpose programming today are Common Lisp and Scheme. The name LISP comes
from “LISt Processing” and as it hints, Lisp’s major data structure is the linked list. In fact the
whole source is written using lists (using prefix notation), or more correctly parenthesized lists
(called s-expressions). For example, a function call is written as (f a1 a2 a3), which means
function f is called using a1, a2 and a3 as input arguments for the function. Therefore it is called
an expression oriented language, where all data and code are written as expressions (there is no
distinction between expressions and statements in Lisp). This nice feature is very special to Lisp,
where it could be used to extend the language to the problem at hand by writing helpful macros.
Although tail-recursion is used by programmers to express loops, all frequently seen Lisp
dialects do include control structures like loop. Furthermore, Common Lisp and scheme have
mapcar and map that are examples of functions, which provide looping functionality by applying
the function successively to all its elements and then collects the results in to a list.

Lisp is a computer programming language with a long history and a distinctive, fully
parenthesized prefix notation. The programmer writes all program code in s-expressions or
parenthesized lists. Furthermore, a function call or syntactic form can be written as a list with the
function or operator’s name first.

Lisp is an old, high-level programming language. The main objective of using Lisp is to
represent mathematical notations for computer programs. Some popular Lisp dialects are
Clojure, Common Lisp and Scheme. Moreover, it also helps to develop Artificial Intelligence
(AI) applications.

LISP Vs. Prolog

Prolog and Lisp are two of the most popular AI (Artificial Intelligence) computer programming
languages today. They are built with two different programming paradigms. Prolog is a
declarative language, while Lisp is a functional language. Both are used for various AI problems
but Prolog is used most for logic and reasoning problems, while Lisp is used for problems with
rapid prototyping needs.

Although, Prolog and Lisp are two of the most popular AI programming languages, they have
various differences. Lisp is a functional language, while Prolog is a logic programming and
declarative languages. Lisp is very flexible due to its fast prototyping and macro features, so it
actually allows extending the language to suit the problem at hand. In the areas of AI, graphics
and user interfaces, Lisp has been used extensively because of this rapid prototyping ability.
However, due to its inbuilt logic programming abilities, Prolog is ideal for AI problems with
symbolic reasoning, database and language parsing applications. Choice of one over the other
completely depends on the type of AI problem that need to be solved.

The main difference between Lisp and Prolog is that Lisp is a computer program language that
supports functional, procedural, reflective and meta paradigms while Prolog is a
computer programming language that supports logic programming paradigm.
Generally, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a way of making a computer, robot, software or a
machine to work intelligently similar to a human. It is a discipline that covers various fields,
including Mathematics, Computer Sciences, Engineering, Philosophy etc. Overall, Lisp and
Prolog are two programming languages that help to write and develop AI-based applications.
Furthermore, Lisp is an older language than Prolog.
 Introduction Prolog Operator

 The prolog operator is a function to operate and works on the programming operand or

variable.

 The prolog operator is a symbolic character to work arithmetic, logical, and comparison

operations.

 It is a symbol to take action between two values and objects for a programming language.

 The prolog operator is an expression to perform two or more than the two values in the

arithmetic, logical, comparison, and another format.

 The prolog operator is a symbolic function to operate the “pl” files value in the console.

 The prolog operator is a function for the prolog console and operates files variable,

objects, and given operand.

Prolog Operator Types

 The prolog operator is a function to work arithmetic, logic, comparison, and other

operations.

 The prolog operator categorizes several operators for different operations.

  It’s types and its subcategory are given below.

Prolog Arithmetic operator

This operator is working for arithmetic expressions such as addition, subtraction, and so on.

The arithmetic operator types shown below.

 Addition (+) operator

 Subtraction (-) operator

 Multiplication (*) operator

 Division (%) operator

 Power (**) operator

 Integer division (//) operator

 Modulus (mod) operator

 Square root (sqrt) operator

 maximum (max) operator

Prolog Comparison operator:

 This operator is working for comparison between two operands and variables such as

equality.

The comparison operator types shown below.

 Greater than (>)operator

 Less than (<) operator

 Greater than equal to (>=) operator

  Less than equal to (=<) operator

 Equal (=:=) operator

 Not equal (=\=) operator

Trigonometric operator:

• This operator works for operating operand and variable to find tangent and cotangent values.

• The trigonometric operator types are shown below.

1. SIN operator

2. COS operator

Explain Operator Types with Example

Prolog Arithmetic operator:

Addition (+) operator:

Subtraction (-) operator:

Multiplication (*) operator:

Division (/) operator:

Power (**) operator:

Integer division (//) operator:

Modulus (mod) operator:

Square root (sqrt) operator:

Output:

maximum (max) operator:

Output:

Prolog comparison operator:

The comparison operator types examples show below.

Greater than (>) operator

Example 1
Example 2

Less than (<) operator

Example 2

Greater than equal to (>=) operator

Example 2
Example 3

Less than equal to (=<) operator

Example 2

Example 3

Equal (=:=) operator

Example 2

Not equal (=\=) operator

Example 2

Prolog trigonometric operator:

The trigonometric operator types examples show below.

sin() operator

cos() operator