Prolog
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Definition
The Prolog programming language, which is a general-purpose logic based programming language, has its association with the artificial intelligence and linguistics of computation.
The roots of Prolog programming language go back to the first-order logic, which can be defined as a formal logic. The language is declarative in nature, which makes it quite different from the other programming languages that exist in the field of computing. Under this language relations, rules and facts are used to express the logic of a program. The users can begin a by starting a query over the expressed relations.
The language consist of a large set of data structures in terms of human reasoning and language. It also features a very robust notation that can be used for the purpose of encoding end-user applications. Apart from the above mentioned features, the language also contains the following important elements.
- Intelligent Systems – these can be defined as programs that use the techniques of artificial intelligence to perform a variety of useful tasks.
- Expert Systems – These can be defined as intelligent systems that have the ability to reproduce decision making processes in a way that is similar to that of a human expert.
- Natural Language Systems – these allow the programs to understand, analyse, and give response to the statements that exist in the ordinary language without relying on selection menus and selected keywords.
- Relational Database Systems
History of Prolog Programming Language
The initial development of Prolog programming language was done by Alain Colmerauer and his group members in the beginning of the 1970s at Marseille, France. Alain Colmerauer along with Philippe Roussel continued working and succeeded in developing the first system based on Prolog in the year 1972.
Prolog gained a lot of attraction from the computing society as it was the very first logic programming languages. The language still holds considerable importance and popularity among the logic programming languages and comes with a range of commercial as well as free implementations.
The basic used of Prolog programming language include the following: proving of theorems, natural language processing (which was the Prolog’s target field of use at the time of its development), and export systems. The present time Prolog environments extend support for the creation of graphic based user interfaces along with the networked and administrative applications.
Prolog is best suited for the tasks that can take advantage of the logical queries that are based on rules. These include, but are not limited to, database searches, template fillings, and voice control systems.
