
Ask HN: Good books to learn Prolog? - JustAGeek
I'm on a quest to if not actively programm in it but at least take a look at different programming paradigms.
One of the few things missing are logic programming languages.
There are quite a bunch of books about Prolog, which is good on the one hand but on the other it renders it difficult to pick one to read. :D<p>I'd prefer a book that doesn't start with very basic stuff, eg explaining loops, if-statements and what not, I know that already. ;)
"Programming Erlang" by Joe Armstrong was really perfect in that regard.<p>So, dear HN, do you have any recommendations?
Or maybe there is something better to check out than Prolog?
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sb
one of the best texts around is "the art of prolog, advanced programming
techniques" 2nd edition, by leon sterling and ehud shapiro.

however, by now, it seems a bit dated (e.g. on the constraint logic
programming side), so there is another recommendable text "programming prolog
for artifical intelligence" by ivan bratko

so if you can afford, i would recommend both texts for self-study.

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plinkplonk
"one of the best texts around is "the art of prolog, advanced programming
techniques" 2nd edition, by leon sterling and ehud shapiro."

Seconded. This is a _really_ good book, though a bit hard to find, the last
time I checked.

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shaunxcode
I got mine right off of amazon - and yesterday I noticed you can buy it
straight from the MIT press page as well.

[http://www.amazon.com/Art-Prolog-Second-Programming-
Techniqu...](http://www.amazon.com/Art-Prolog-Second-Programming-
Techniques/dp/0262193388/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255013296&sr=8-1) (if
you click on the used link there is a hardback going for 13 bucks right now)

[http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&...](http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=6945)
(they use asp..? regardless brand new hardback for 65)

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plinkplonk
hey Thanks I didn't know new copies were available. I have a falling-to-pieces
used copy.

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jherdman
Prolog is a pretty neat language. It _feels_ really strange at first, but as
you grow used to its weirdness, it becomes much more enjoyable.

I learned Prolog in university using the book "Prolog Programming in Depth",
by Michael A. Covington, Donald Nute, and André Vellino. Frankly, I didn't use
the book all that much. It was a handy reference now and then, but it wasn't
essential. Perhaps there's some good tutorials online?

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jonjacky
"Clause and Effect" by Clocksin. Also, the worked exercises at Ninety-Nine
Prolog Problems, <https://prof.ti.bfh.ch/hew1/informatik3/prolog/p-99/>

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fogus
I loved Prolog Programming for Artificial Intelligence by Ivan Bratko.

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JustAGeek
Thanks everybody for the suggestions!

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BigO
if statements and loops in prolog oh man

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JustAGeek
Maybe it could've occurred to you that I don't know Prolog yet, thus my post
here. :P

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mahmud
How good is your Lisp?

LISA does forward chaining within CLOS, so you always have a real language on
standby when you need one. JESS has Java.

Prolog: what a frustrating language to use in the Real World and what a
delightful lab language.

