Learn Prolog Now! (Texts in Computing, Vol. 7)

I started learning Prolog after teaching myself Python and SQL. Ran into a stumbling block learning recursion in Python; the explanations always seemed to assume some prior knowledge of recursion (obvious joke here). Needed something that would cover recursion in depth, but the abstract discussions of it to be found in texts like Niklaus Wirth's Data Structures + Algorithms = Programs are even harder to follow than just good discussions of how it works in the context of a language. Learn Prolog Now! is the right combo of hand-holding through every step of a recursive rule in Prolog. You learn how to to trace the Prolog interpreter's variable instantiations as it attempts to satisfy the rule. Folks this is a hard language - you can get some sense of that looking at reviews on this site. Chances are you're not gonna pick up Bratko and learn to write it unless you're already an academically trained computer scientist. This book has upped my comfort level with the language to where I can: a. now write recursive functions in Python. b. move on to harder Prolog texts. As for the question of whether this is the right language for you, well, are you looking for a challenge or a way to get a raise at work? If the latter, probably no. If the former, you'll be challenged and if you enjoy programming, you'll have some fun too. The real prerequisite for Prolog is a knowledge of predicate logic. If you find the language mystifying, recommend Warren Goldfarb's Deductive Logic. Kowalski's book on the Horn clause semantics of Prolog is fascinating but it's not gonna make sense if it's your first book on first-order logic, and Prolog is essentially fascinating as a clean implementation of FOL, unlike most other programming languages (LISP for instance implements the Lambda calculus which is more advanced).

I've bought several Prolog books over the years. This is the first one that communicated the concepts in a way that I could easily understand. Many, "in other words" statements and very detailed examples.I did have one problem in that I use PDC Visual Prolog and the examples didn't always work as written, but it was easy enough to convert the code to PDC Visual Prolog. PDC doesn't seem to be very popular so my problem shouldn't be an issue for most people. Also, you can always download a free copy of other Prologs that would probably work as written.

This book is also free online but I bought for reading while travelling and this fits the bill perfectly. Good Prolog introduction with exercises at the end of each chapter to get a better understanding of the material. Answers are provided for the pen-and-paper exercises which are not available in the online edition, however it would have been nice to get also the answers for the practical partsFont is good and I had no problem reading it, only thing that might have been better is the margins since the end of sentences on the left side can be hard to read with plenty of space on the other side of the same page. This was a minor issue though and I would not let it stop me in buying the bookOverall it is good and I am very happy that I decided to buy the book version

Prolog is not really a programming language, although is has a syntax and grammar and the usual Chomsky machinery. It is really an automated inference and substitution engine to solve problems in logic and to apply to model domains. The language part of the system is solely to express the problem. It is one of the few real sucesses of decades of "Artificial Intelligence" research.This book is a good starting point, but some of the material is much higher level than the basic introduction of the rest of the book.

If you just want to learn prolog, buy this book. If you are thinking about buying it because you were having an issue with one of the exercises on the website, don't expect to find the answer you are looking for in this book.

This book is supposed to be a light introduction into the world of Prolog, but it failed to spark my interest.

Learn Prolog Now! lives up to its name. It's a readable and succinct introduction to simple Prolog programming. It assumes no programming experience, although readers with no programming experience might find the beginning chapters hard to understand because the explanations are brief. There are lots of exercises at the end of each chapter, and the practical sessions at the end of each chapter help the reader to get in-depth understanding of how Prolog works and how to debug Prolog programs. Two chapters on parsing explain how to parse regular languages and context-sensitive languages. The chapter on cuts and negation provides the clearest explanations of those concepts in Prolog I have seen so far. I used the online version of the book, which does not have exercise solutions; the solutions provided in the print version of the book should make it easier to know when you've really understood the text and provide help when you can't get a solution quite right. Although the book provides very little in terms of applications of Prolog except for the two chapters on parsing, it gives a great introduction to the basics of the language.

So many books claiming to teach prolog are written without consideration or care for where the beginner students is at. They almost seem written to show off how clever the author is.This book is different. It is written for beginner students, taking them step by step on a journey, a conversation with the author .. and it works. I can recommend no better book for learning prolog for the first time.

Everything explained in meticulous detail. An excellent first book on Prolog.

Great book, don't know what more you could want except maybe to have the knowledge beamed directly to your brain.You'll find that nearly every university's CS course on Prolog is based off of this book. They often don't even bother making their own support material. This is not because they are lazy, this is because this book and it's writers got it right on the money.If you need proof I knew nothing about Prolog at the start of this semester and I have secured a 96 average at the end of my Prolog module at Uni. I attribute all knowledge gained on Prolog to this book. Which I read in the first two days of the module, got all the lab work done in the follow 3 days (because all the lab work was actually just the digital versions of the books exercises), then sat back with my feat up feeling a little bit smug all semester and then took the exam. Buy this book, and then profit.

Ich kaufte mir dieses Buch als Begleiter für eine Vorlesung im Studium. Das Buch ist sehr gut gegliedert und bringt einem die Sprache Prolog wirklich verständlich näher. Es wird wirklich ganz am Anfang angefangen und baut Schritt für Schritt aufeinander auf. Das Buch ist kompakt, sodass man es auch unterwegs in den öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln lesen kann oder allgemein gut transportabel ist.Das Buch ist meiner Meinung nach zu empfehlen und bereit einen auch gut für eine Prüfung im Studium vor. Es lohnt sich es begleitend zu einer Vorlesung zu kaufen, auch wenn der Professor schon sehr viel erläutert. Man liest es einfach nochmal mit anderen Worten, was mir sehr geholfen hat. Aufgaben mit Lösungen sind ebenfalls nach jedem Kapitel enthalten, um gleich zu sehen, ob der Inhalt des Kapitels verstanden wurde.

A dire il vero avevo già studiato sul web-book, ma ho voluto acquistarlo perché é scritto in maniera veramente semplice e valeva la pena avere la copia cartacea. Il libro introduce piacevolmente al mondo Prolog, iniziando dalle basi e dando niente per scontato, finendo con qualche nozione più avanzata come le DCG. É ricco di esempi ed esercizi che rendono la materia ancora più comprensibile. Per chi pensa che ci siano le soluzioni agli esercizi, ebbene si, ci sono. Ma come lo stesso autore raccomanda, consultatele solamente dopo aver provato a risolverli diverse volte.P.S. ho consultato diversi libri sull'argomento, ma nessuno di essi riesce in un introduzione alla programmazione in Prolog come questo.