Learning objectives
The course is intended to provide the basic notions of declarative programming, through the presentation and practical application of the logic programming language Prolog.
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of: concepts and techniques of conventional programming (e.g., in C); foundamental data structures such as lists, trees, and graphs; functions, set theory, and logical connectives. Familiarity with computer usage.
Course unit content
<p> Declarative programming: definition, motivations, forms, languages. Main features of declarative programming languages. <br />
A language for declarative programming: Prolog. History of Prolog (hints) - Variables and data types (simple and compound terms). Clauses and programs (syntax) - Semantics. Logical and procedural interpretations - Unification and substitution - Operational semantics. Derivation. SLD tree. Success set - Nondeterminism and search strategies. Backtracking. Incompleteness - Data structures: lists. List operations. Strings - Multiple solutions ('setof') - Declarative programming in Prolo. Logical variables and unification. partially specified data structures. Nodeterminism and recursion -Non-declarative features of Prolog. Number manipulation. Backtracking control ("cut"). Negation by failure (hints). Term/character input-output. File. Dynamic program modification (hints) - SWI-Prolog programming environment. Development and testing of simple SWI-Prolog programs. <br />
Constraint logic programming (CLP). Weakness of Prolog - The notions of constraint and constraint solver - CLP. Programs, CLP computation, constraint solving (propagation and consistency check). A case study: CLP(FD). FD constraints. Fd constraint solving ("arc-consistency"). CLP(FD) in SWI-Prolog. </p>
Full programme
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Bibliography
L. CONSOLE, E. LAMMA, P. MELLO, M. MILANO: Programmazione logica e Prolog (II edizione), UTET Libreria, 1997, Anno ristampa 2006, pp. 432.
Teaching methods
Exams : Oral exams plus programming assignments
Assessment methods and criteria
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Other information
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