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Joao Mendes <public.email@anywhere.invalid> wrote:
[...]
>Bah... I always thought of Prolog statements not so much as rules per se
>but as a series of implicit-if-then statements... :)

Well, you could do it that way, but you'll lose a lot
of the leverage that Prolog does actually provide.

>Off-topic question: Does anyone have a clue as to why Lisp is more widely
>regarded as the AI language of choice than Prolog or the later langs?

I get the impression that it has to do with the fact
that (a) LISP is far more flexible than Prolog, even
allowing "real work" (algorithms) to be done (though
they're not always necessary), and (b) since LISP
treats code and data equally, it's fairly easy to
write a program that builds some of its own logic
base, thus allowing a parser (for example) to add to
its own grammar, based on counterexamples.

Of course, the AI people I know all program in C and
PERL, for what that's worth...

>> Parsing would be much easier, yes.  Although I'd still rather see
>> someone work with something that's fixed Prolog's mistakes, like
>> Mercury.
>You know, if I wasn't sooooo drooling over TADS 3 right now, I'd take you
>up on it... :)

It's not like you can't do both...

>> Yeah, I was actually in contact with David Intersimone, trying to get
>> him to dump Turbo Prolog onto the Borland Museum.  Turns out there
>> are some major licensing issues.
>A simple :( will suffice here, I believe...

Heh.  I figured it was implied.

[...]
>Anyway. I'm going back to T3 now. That was a nice chat. :)

Anytime.  On- or off-list.
