Contents

• CS320 Prolog Examples
• : Check out New things on the Course Web Page
• : Goals
• : Deliverables
• : The Game is afoot!
• : Help
• : Do the examples in the Handout
• : A Classical Algorithm
• : A Simple Data Base
• : How to Write Bad Science Fiction
• : How to write bad Fantasy Fiction
• : Prolog loops!
• : Summing the Number from 1 to N.
• : Summing 1 to N again
• : Factorials
• : Generate Magic Squares
• : Combinatorics
• : Programs that Learn
• : If you have Time
• : For more on Prolog
• : Hints
• : Default Editor
• : UML to Prolog
• : Glossary
• : Bigger Hint
• Check the Preparation for next class

CS320 Prolog Examples

Check out New things on the Course Web Page

[ News in index ]

Goals

You will learn about how Prolog works on simple problems.

Deliverables

You must develop an HTML page for this lab with links to about 5 examples of Prolog that interests you. Plus comments on what you have learned from them about Prolog.

Your task in this laboratory is to gather together some examples of Prolog solutions to problems that interest you, or that will remind you of the peculiarities of Prolog. You don't have to try every example and experiment below. You do need have between about 5 links to examples each with a comment (2 or three sentences) describing what you think is interesting about it.

Keep your Prolog notes open beside your keyboard so you can look for help when things do not work as you expect. Also see the Hints at the end of this lab.

To run the tests below use the command

 		swipl

to execute SWI Prolog. Check out [ http://www.swi-prolog.org/ ] too see the various versions that are available. I have downloaded the Windows/MSDOS executable and run it on my laptop at home. It is the only programming language honored in this way!

The Game is afoot!

This is simple demonstration of the power of Logic Programming. Don't get bogged down in how, just download and run the program.

Sherlock Holmes is using a computer("The Engine") to investigate the murder at the Metropolitan Club. Read the handout first....

Find and download(Shift/click, and "Save as" text) a copy of

 	http://cse.csusb.edu/dick/cs320/prolog/metro1.plg

[ metro1.plg ] You can run Prolog with UNIX command

 	swipl

Tell the interpreter to compile the facts of the case into database.

 	consult('metro1.plg').

 	                     ^Don't forget the period.

You can now investigate the murder. What happens when you input these lines?

 	listing(murderer).

 	listing(room).

 	listing(attire).

 	listing(hair).

Don't forget the periods, and the case of everything is lower case.

Then try inputting this query:

 	murderer(X).

Don't forget the periods, and the case of X.

We will now ask Prolog to show us, step by step how it solved the crime:

 	trace, murderer(X).

Keep tapping return as each step is taken. ("creep" is not intended to be insulting... it indicates that the system is taking a very small step forward or backward).

Help

Start up Prolog and try the following queries out...

 		Don't forget the '.' at the end of each query.

 	help.

 	help(1-1).

 	help(2-1).

 	help(=).

 	help(is).

 	help(member).

The notation name/arity which means: the predicate with functor name and arity arguments. The signs on the arguments in the description say whether they have to be in or out arguments - whether you supply a value or if the predicate will supply the value. Sometimes either can happen as is needed.

Getting lists of helpful topics on a given subject:

 	apropos(list).

 	apropos(help).

Do the examples in the Handout

Start the Prolog interpreter running and input a sample of the underlined examples in the handout, in turn, starting with page 2.

A Classical Algorithm

Although Prolog is not designed to express algorithms or to run them efficiently, it can do so. A first rough version of the Binary search algorithm is defined in [ binary.plg ] You can test to see if it calculated the square root of 49 correctly:

 		go.

You could use

 		edit(f).

to change the function from squaring to cubing:

 		f(X,Y):- Y is X*X*X.

Then exit the editor and see if the binary search will find cube roots.

A Simple Data Base

I have rapidly prototyped a data base of chemical elements. I typed in a database describing the chemical and physical properties of the elements...(most of them). Each element has a record structure (called element) that lists
Net
1. Its name - an atom
2. It's chemical symbol - an atomic string with a capital letter and and optional lower case letter
3. It's Atomic number
4. Whether it is 'radioactive' or 'not radioactive'
5. What type of element is it: metal, nonmetal, alkali, rare_earth,...
6. What its normal state is (at 0C, and normal pressure...)
7. Its Melting point(MP) in Centigrade
8. Its Boiling point(BP) in Centigrade

(End of Net)

I also define some abbreviations for getting an elements Name, or to get its element's name and symbol, or to relate name, symbol, and number:

 		element(Name).

 		element(Name, Symbol).

 		element(Name, Symbol, Number).

I also define some properties of the atomic numbers: Is the element metallic or non-metallic, and what group and period in the periodic table is assigned to the element. There also three utility commands that print information about an element: period(Atomic_number), group(Atomic_Number), and print_element(Name_of_an_element).

The data and program are in [ chem.plg ] save/download a copy of this file. Load it into Prolog and try a query:

 		print_element(boron).

To see how this works list the prolog program:

 		listing(print_element).

Now try the following simple searches/queries of our knowledge base:

 		element(boron, Symbol, Number).

 		element(Name, 'F', Number).

 		element(Name, Symbol, 14).

 		element(barium, 'Ba', 56).

 		element(hydrogen, 'H', 24).

 		element(hydrogen, 'H', Nbr, Rad, Class,Normally,Melt, Boil).

 		element(Name, _, _, radioactive, _,_,_, _).

The last of these above has several answers... tap ';' to get each radioactive element in turn. Notice the wild-card variable _.

Problem: I just typed it in and haven't checked it for errors.

Write simple Prolog queries that will detect some of the possible errors that I might have made:

• An element with the same name as a another with a different symbol.
• Strong Hint

  ---

  1. element(Name, Symbol1), element(Name, Symbol2), Symbol1\==Symbol2.

  ---

• Elements with different names but the same symbol.

• An element with the same name as a another with a different number.
• Hint

  ---

  1. Its like the previous but use =\= to compare numbers. [ Bigger Hint ]

  ---

Also see [ UML to Prolog ]

How to Write Bad Science Fiction

Find, download and test out the 1950-style sci-fi pulp-fiction processor that is in [ story.plg ] Note... do not take this seriously. They are intended to be jokes parodying the popular magazines and movies of a less enlightened century. Here [ http://www.badmovies.org/movies/ ] are the kind of bad movies that this little program writes whenever you type the go. command.

How does it do it? Try

 	listing(go).

Using 'help', 'listing', and some guessing can you see how I encoded the "structure" of these stories as a grammar?

How to write bad Fantasy Fiction

This [ fantasy.plg ] was submitted by Joel SemChuck as a variation of the previous example.

Prolog loops!

Using the 'member' predicate we can abbreviate

 	X=1;X=2;X=3....

and so we can solve simple word problems by writing searches: What digit has a square of 9?

 	member(X,[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0]), X*X =:= 9.

What digit has a square of 3?

 	member(X,[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0]), X^2 =:= 3.

How about looking for a solution of an equation:

 	member(X,[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0]), X^2-11*X+28=:=0.

But the following fails.... why?

 	member(X,[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0]), X^2-11*X+28=0.

Summing the Number from 1 to N.

Normally you want Prolog to find a single solution - especially when your predicate is implementing a function. However, different values might be calculated different ways. Here is the simplest example of a common form of such a Predicate. Input this into a file called "summer.plg":

 	% s1(N,SN) - given a positive non zero integer number N, SN=1+2+...+N

 	s1(N,SN) :-  N < 1, print('Error in s1'), nl, fail.

 	s1(N,SN) :-  N = 1, SN is 1.

 	s1(N,SN) :-  N > 1, N1 is N-1, s1(N1, SN1), SN is SN1 + N.

Check for typos. Check that there are three definitions for Prolog to try - it will try each in turn. Then notice that each definition has a body that starts with a condition, and that precisely one of these conditions can be true for any given N. So only one will be selected. Can you predict what it will do?

Compile, list, test , and trace the above code.

Summing 1 to N again

The previous exercise worked but is more like Ada/C/C++/LISP/Pascal than Prolog. Here is a program that uses Prolog better. Compare it with the previous. Put it in a file and test it.

  % s2(N,SN) - given a positive non zero integer number N, SN=1+2+...+N

  s2(1,1).

  s2(N,SN ) :-  N > 1, N1 is N-1, s2(N1, SN1), SN is SN1 + N.

  s2(N, _ ) :-  N < 1, print('Error in s1'), nl, fail.

Factorials

Prolog permits (and perhaps over-uses) recursion. But how else could you explain to a logical idiot what a factorial was? Look at [ factorial.plg ] down load it, compile, and list it. Figure out how to use it from the listing.

Generate Magic Squares

The following demonstrates the real problem with Prolog... it can take a long time to generate a solution. The following [ magic.plg ] can be used to print out all 3 by 3 magic squares

Download it, and consult it, and then

 	go(More).

Be ready for a long delay....

Of course there is a better algorithm. If you study what the program does you'll notice that it spends a lot of time generating digits and rejecting them here:

 row(X,Y,Z):-d(X),d(Y), X=\=Y, d(Z),X=\=Z, Y=\=Z, X+Y+Z=:=15.

Here it keeps trying different Zs until it finds one (if any) that fits the last calculation. It would be faster to calculate a single Z instead of using trial-an-error:

 row(X,Y,Z):-d(X),d(Y), X=\=Y, Z is 15-X-Y, X=\=Z, Y=\=Z.

Similarly, once the first two rows have been found in a 3><3 magic square it is easy to calculate the bottom row. Here [ magic3.plg ] is the improved program. Is it faster? Does it produce the same squares?

This experiment shows an important fact: The simple and obvious, logical, program may need intelligent tweaking before it is fast enough.

Combinatorics

Ice-Cream Cones

Here is a very simple problem. It came up in an elementary school math class. It shows how the number of combinations of options gives a large number of cases to consider.

---

I like ice-cream cones with three scoops of ice-cream. I like chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice-cream. Any mixture of three is ok. But I want have a different cone each time. How many different cones are there?

---

Write a file 'cones.plg' that defines all my favorite scoop(Flavor).

 	scoop(chocolate).

 	scoop(vanilla).

 	scoop(strawberry).

Compile, run and test it with:

          scoop(Top).

(and don't forget to tap ';' to ask for each cone in turn.)

Then try two scoops of ice-cream.

          scoop(Top),scoop(Bottom).

(and don't forget to tap ';' to ask for each cone in turn.) Now try the following simple Prolog loop....

          scoop(Top),write(Top),nl,fail.

Notice how we put fail at the end of the loop, because it forces Prolog to go back and find the next alternative, and in the above, the scoop provides a choice point with 3 alternatives. 'fail' take Prolog back to the last choice point to look for another alternative... and if there are none it backtracks to the next previous choice point.

We can use the same technique with two scoops... to generate all combinations:

          scoop(Top),scoop(Bottom),write(Top+Bottom),nl,fail.

Also notice that we can use + in the output.... because Prolog will write X+Y without evaluating it!

Edit your 'cones.plg' file so that it defines a predicate cone(Top, Middle, Bottom) that chooses a Top, Middle and Bottom Scoop.

 		cone(Top, Middle, Botttom):-scoop(Top), scoop(Middle). scoop(Bottom).

Compile and run. Test it like this:

 		cone(Top,Middle,Bottom),

 		write(Top+Middle+Bottom),nl,fail.

Put Combinations in a Database

It is possible to save the database of ice-cream cones. The program file must tell the Prolog system that there is a dynamic predicate with 3 arguments:

 		:-dynamic(a_cone/3).

Try the following which generates a database of all the possible cones, ready for further computation, as long as you tap the ";" key:

 		cone(A,B,C), assert(   a_cone(A,B,C)  ).

 		listing(a_cone).

Bags of Snow Cones

This continues the Ice-cream Cone scenario, but shows you a powerful alternative to using the Prolog database for saving a set of items for future use.

Prolog has some high-level commands for handling list, sets, and "bags". (A bag can have elements that occur several times). The bagof(Term, Condition, Bag) predicate is built into our Prolog and assembles a list in Bag of all Terms that fit the Condition. Load your 'cones.plg' into Prolog and try the following:

 		bagof(X, scoop(X), Scoops).

 		bagof(X+Y, (scoop(X), scoop(Y)), Scoops).

You can count the number of cones easily by using the length(List, Length) predicate:

 		bagof(A+B+C, cone(A,B,C), Cones), length(Cones, Number_cones).

You can add a definition of count to your cones.plg program:

 		count(N):-bagof(A+B+C, cone(A,B,C), Cones), length(Cones, N).

Extensions to the Cones Problem

Modify your cones.plg file to count cones that have the same flavor on the top and bottom scoops.

Modify the program to count the cones must have three different flavors.

How about 4 scoops?

How about pizza

Show how a similar approach can enumerate Pizza's at a hypothetical Pizza Place.

. . . . . . . . . ( end of section Combinatorics) <<Contents | End>>

Programs that Learn

Prolog programs can grow as they run! The predicate

 		assert(Fact)

puts the query into the data base. The predicate

 		assertz(Fact)

puts the item at the end of the data base.

 		asserta(Fact).

adds the Fact at the beginning of the facts.

In modern Prologs the facts and clauses in the database are assumed to be static. To allow them to be dynamic the following command has to be executed in any program that uses the assert predicates:

 		:-dynamic(functor/arity).

where functor is the name of the fact and arity is the number of arguments:

 		:-dynamic(fact/1).

allows new 'facts' about single objects to be asserted or retracted.

It helps to know that a fact we assert is not already in the data base. There is a special Prolog statement that checks for a the existence of a clause - rather than trying to discover if the query is true:

 		clause(Head, Body).

searches for a rule of form:

 		Head:-Body.

A Trivial Example

Here is an simple example. Suppose we already have a predicate that finds the fourth power of a number:

 	fourth(X, X4):- square(X,X2), square(X2,X4).

(try this definition out, adding anything that is missing:-)

However we want to avoid doing the same calculation twice. Instead, whenever we recalculating the old values.... Instead, each time a fourth power for an integer is found we add any new facts to the data base:

 	fourth(X,X4):-square(X,X2), square(X2,X4),

 		assert_if_new(fourth(X,X4)).

The resulting program is in [ 4th.plg ] download this file and start up Prolog with this program. Repeatedly try queries like:

 	fourth(2, F).

and and do a listing after each one... see how it accumulates data....

A Prototype Student Data Base

A common programming technique in Prolog is to read in a data base and modify it before returning it to the data base. The predicate

 		retract( Query )

looks up a matching piece of data in the usual way, but then deletes it from the data base. The predicate

 		assert( Fact )

puts the query into the data base. Here are some examples of how this is done.

Again in modern Prolog systems we have to set up the dynamic predicates in advance:

 		dynamic(functor/arity).

A Student Records database

Down load and examine the following file: [ students.plg ]

Can you see how it records some information on 3 students?

Notice the clever use of Prolog operators to encode grades:

 		cs320=a:	A grade of A in CS320

 		cs320+b:	A grade of B+ in CS320

 		cs320-c:	A grade of C- in CS320

(This may not be a good idea... but it shows you that in Prolog you can make expressions mean anything you want).

Note: If we don't use a list of grades in the record we have to have a separate set of facts linking students, courses and grades. For more on data base design see CSci480.

Admissions and Records

Here is a very simple application that manipulates the student records in students.plg: [ ar.plg ] It defines the following commands:

 		load_students.

 		list_students.

 		save_students.

 		admit(Student_number, Student_name).

 		dismiss(Student_number, Student_name).

Notice it also needs you to have download [ students.plg ] first.

Run the ar.plg program, load the students, list them, add a new student with number 9999 and name 'Joe Coyote', list the result, and save the students. Quit Prolog and look at the result.

Study how the program is written. Notice the unfriendly user interface. Notice how simple the resulting code is. Hence a possible prototype to check out the algorithms and data structures, not a finished program.

Grades.

Look at the program to record new grades in student records: [ grading.plg ] Save this program. You will also need your students.plg and ar.plg file. Start up the grading.plg program and use

 		consult('ar.plg').

 		load_students.

to get the data online.

Add student with number 9999 and name 'Joe Coyote'. Hint. [ Admissions and Records ] above.

Give him the grade of a in cs125.

 		grade(9999, cs125=a).

List the student records. Give Joe a grade of B+ in cs201 (cs201+b), and list the result.

Give Joe a grade of A- in CS320, and check the result...

If this works, study the code and then try some other experiments.

. . . . . . . . . ( end of section A Prototype Student Data Base) <<Contents | End>>

More on data bases

Also see [ UML to Prolog ] below.

. . . . . . . . . ( end of section Programs that Learn) <<Contents | End>>

If you have Time

Counting Ice-cream Cones from First Principles

Suppose we wanted to count how many cones there are, but don't want to store each possible cone before we count. We want something like this:

 	cone(A,B,C), count, fail.

The fail forces Prolog to backtrack and find another cone. We need the right definition for count. We want count to increase some hidden item of data each time is called, and we don't want it to undo anything when backtracking from the fail.

Prolog variables only have one value so we can not use them for counting (except recursively - one symbol but many variables!). We can't use a variable so we use the Prolog database: Initially we have no cones:

 		cones(0).

To count a cone we:

---

1. Extract the old value out of the data base (cones(Old))
2. Add one to the Old number we found
3. Re-assert the new value of the number of cones.

---

Like this

 	count:-retract(cones(Old)), New is Old+1, assert(cones(New)).

(Prolog uses the jargon word retract to mean `find the first matching rule and remove it from the data base`.)

Put together the definition of cone, scoop, cones, and count, in your cones.plg file and then test:

 	cone(A,B, C), count, fail.

	cones(Number).

Prolog List Processing

See Sebesta pages 502..507 first. Ask Prolog for a listing of

 	append

Study it. Test it out. Trace it. Describe in English how 'append' works.

Adding Functions to Prolog

Functions can be added to Prolog - some later generation Prologs have them built in. I have worked out a set of rules and a new infix operator 'es' which evaluates expressions that use user defined functions. The necessary rules are in [ functions.plg] . along with a sample definition of a function:

 	function(square(X),X*X).

You can then see how '=', 'is', and 'es' differ:

 	Y = square(3).

 	Y is square(3).

 	Y es square(3).

You can add a new function to the definitions by asserting it:

 	assert(function( cube(X), X*X*X)).

or like this:

 	assert((function( abs(X), X) :- X>=0))).

 	assert((function( abs(X), Y) :- X<0, Y is -X))).

Adding Rational Numbers to Prolog

Because Prolog stores expressions until it is forced to evaluate them by an is or a relational operator we can easily program Prolog with a new way to evaluate them - as long as we give it a new name. In the [ rational.plg ] I programmed an assignment like 'is', called 'es', which treats

 		n/d

as a fraction with numerator n and denominator d. This shows how the ADT(class) of rational numbers is declared and can be used.

Adding RAM to Prolog

Another feature of Prolog is the absence of global variables - data stored in locations in random access memory. The file [ ram.plg ] Shows how to simulate such a memory using the Prolog data base.

When you look at the code, notice that 'ram' is essentially a function that converts the names of variables into values. So the code must make sure that there is never more than one value for any variable.

The file also needs you to download [ functions.plg ] so that the 'let' command will work.

It uses two special Prolog functors 'assert' and 'retract' to store and retrieve values in a array called ram.

Here is a set of tests.

	set(x,1)

	print_ram.

	set(x,3)

	print_ram.

 	set(y,2)

	print_ram.

 	let(z,x+y).

	print_ram.

univ or =.. predicate.">The univ or =.. predicate.

What happens to these queries:

 	(a+b)=..X.

 	tree(left,right)=..X.

 	Y=..[power, x, 2].

 	a*b+c =.. [F, X, Y].

 	a*(b+c) =.. [F, X, Y].

 	help(univ)

Describe what 'univ'/=.. is supposed to do.

Faster Factorials by Caching Values

Look at [ factorl2.plg ] Down load it, compile, and list it. Figure out how to test it from the listing.

A Real C Program

The time has come for you to see an industrial size C program.... the Prolog Source Code. Explore this a little... before you start the lab: [ http://cse.csusb.edu/dick/cs320/prolog/src/ ] This is precisely what I downloaded, uncompressed, unarchived, compiled, and installed so that you could do these labs.

Note.

Don't try to understand a large program like this. It would take you several weeks full time work to understand it all. More importantly, working with it does not mean understanding how the compiler stores the syntax tree! Even maintaining a program this big means that you only work on a small part at a time. In a well designed program, you can understand it one small part at a time.

Problems From the Book

A family database

Sebesta Page 567. Problems sets 3 and 4.

Lists and Sets in Prolog

Sebesta Page 567. Problems 5, 6, 7 are interesting but are built into our Prolog already (I think). But before you list the code.... can you work out your own solution ... then compare your answer with the ones in SWI-Prolog.

. . . . . . . . . ( end of section Problems From the Book) <<Contents | End>>

More sample Programs

You can explore these as you wish, and you can probably improve most of them.

Picking lotto type numbers

My first algorithm [ lotto.plg ] for picking a sample of lottery picks has a bad feature....

Load the bad solution and investigate why and how it fails, using trace to help. What are the problems?

Later I produced [ lotto93.plg ] that seems to have the problem licked by using a smarter idea and a way to express a 'for loop' in Prolog.

For loops in Prolog

[ for.plg ] [ for.example.plg ] [ for.complex.plg ]

Magic squares revisited

See [ magic2.plg ] for an example of selecting unused values from a set of possibilities.... and so generating permutations.

A Prototype Advising Program

The following is out of date and not useful advising system [ compsci.plg ] Improve it.

The Barber Paradox

In a certain village every boy shaves and are either shaved by themselves or the barber. And nobody is shaved by two people. Who shaves the barber? [ barber.plg ]

Parallel Processing

[ cobegin.plg ]

Gries Coffee Can Problem

Actually it is Dick Scholten's coffee bean can... [ coffeecan.plg ]

Cantor's Enumeration of Pairs

The following example runs through every pair of positive integers if you run it long enough. It could be used to find whole number solutions to equations. However it will go on forever if there is no solution. [ cantor.plg ]

Pretty Print a Structure

The following is used to print out a structure (a parse tree for example) in a more readable way. [ pp.plg ]

Quick Sort made Simple

The following experiments show how simple sorting can be. Two different examples... [ qsort.plg ] [ qsort2.plg ] In both of these you call the sort like this:

 		qsort(Given_list, Variable_for_sorted_list).

Sorting in Practice

Practical Prolog programmers use the built-in sort/2 or setof/3 predicates when they want data in a particular order. You can find out more about sort and setof by asking prolog

 		help(sort).

 		help(setof).

or trying out [ setof.plg ]

A Tool for Programming

This is based on a research paper in the IEEE Transactions of Software Engineering. It shows how a lot of information about a complicated C program can be placed in a Prolog data base and then searched to answer questions like: "What could change the following variable?". [ tool.plg ]

Statistics

This shows how you to use the Prolog data base to do summations that appear in statistical work. The predicate expects a list of numbers stored as data(...). data(....). ... and sums the squares of these numbers: [ sum_squares.plg ]

Genealogies

Here is an excellent example [ genealogy.html ] given to me by Jonathan Wheeler. It grows a simple Prolog program for handling family trees and such. Try it out!

. . . . . . . . . ( end of section More sample Programs) <<Contents | End>>

. . . . . . . . . ( end of section If you have Time) <<Contents | End>>

For more on Prolog

Schnupp and Bernard have written an excellent introduction. There book is in the CSUSB library.

If you want to learn the techniques used for expert systems, simulations, and half a dozen other purposes... see T Van Le's text book.

I have a page of pointers to Prolog information: [ prolog.html ]

Also see a selection of messages from the SWI-Prolog mailing list [ mbox ]

The SWI manual (with some GIFs missing) is in [ http://cse.csusb.edu/dick/cs320/prolog/SWI-prolog/ ] and the Gnu Prolog manual is at [ http://cse.csusb.edu/dick/cs320/prolog/gnu/ ] and describes how to use gprolog and all the predicates it defines.

Hints

Study these hints if unexpected things happen...
• Prolog is a combination of compiler and interpreter. The compiler reads in the "program" made up of data and rules. It produces a running program which reads and interprets your input according to the compiled data.

• In Prolog you must finish each statement with a period.

   	End of line does not count.

• Prolog is highly case sensitive. Variables all have a capital letter first.

   	X is a variable - with an unknown (as yet?) value.

   	x is the atom x

• You get out of Prolog by inputting CTRL/D or 'halt.' on a new line.

• You run Prolog with the command

   		swipl

• You compile a program inside Prolog by

   		consult('name_of_file').

Default Editor

If you have a favorite editor and want to have invoked from other UNIX programs (like mail and Prolog) then add these lines to your .profile

 		EDIT=name_of_your_favorite_editor

 		VISUAL=$EDIT

 		EDITOR=$EDIT

 		export EDIT VISUAL EDITOR

The next time you login most UNIX programs will know what editor you like to use.

UML to Prolog

Speaking of data bases.... You can often do a very quick translation from a UML class diagram into a prototype Prolog data base. Each box becomes a predicate. The chemistry example had a predicate called element which would come from the UML class Element with 8 public attributes: name:atom, symbol:string, etc. . The operations would typically be written as rules. Operations that change the state of the object will need to retract the old attribute values and assert the new ones in place of the old ones. Relationships between classes can be code as: a predicate relating the two classes, a list stored as an parameter of a predicate in a class, or a single parameter identifying a unique corresponding object in the other calls. Inheritance is harder but you can write Prolog rules that attempt to find information in one predicate, and if it fails goes else where. You can also write rules that will search a series of predicates to find which one needs changing.

Glossary

1. arity::= the number of arguments in a compound term..
2. functor::= the identifier of a structure in a term. It can appear immediately before a bracketed list of arguments, or be infixed between two arguments. It can also be prefixed and post-fixed.

   Bigger Hint

    	element(Name, _, Number1), element(Name, _, Number2), Number1=\=Number2.

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