To introduce the student to the Prolog programming language. This includes both reaching a level of competence in programming and also understanding the meaning of such programs. It is intended to provide the student with an alternative tool for solving problems of a symbolic non-numeric type such as problems encountered in Artificial Intelligence.
| Term | Prerequisites | Core For | 1 | Basic computing skills and knowledge of Unix and text editing | N/A |
· The components of a Prolog program.
· The syntax of Prolog. The meaning of a Prolog program.
· Lists; the Prolog list structure and useful list operations. Structures which generalise lists into data objects having several components. Two classical problems; the eight queens problem and the four colours problem; solved using Prolog.
· Elementary arithmetic operations. Basic operators and some examples of their use. Input and output in Prolog.
· Prolog queries and the mechanism of backtracking. How the programmer can control backtracking mainly in order to obtain a more efficient program. The infamous cut operator and examples of "green" and "red" cuts.
· Application areas of Prolog; knowledge-based systems and cognitive science. The relationship between logic and Prolog; parsing of simple natural-language sentences and finding of optimal routes in structures (e.g. maps of city underground train networks) where heuristics or "rules of thumb" influence what is optimal and what is not.
| Weighting | No. Exam Questions | No. Courseworks | 30% coursework, 70% examination | 6 | at least 3 |