Logic for problem solving

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1. tkosanJan 2015
   I started learning how to program in Prolog a few years ago. I found Prolog to be very difficult to understand, mostly because I did not understand what symbolic logic was. I then purchased a significant number of books on symbolic logic and started studying them. I don’t think it is possible to understand Prolog without first understanding how symbolic logic works.

   My recommendation for someone who is interested in learning how to program in Prolog is to start by reading “Logic for Problem Solving” by Robert Kowalski:

   http://www.amazon.com/Problem-Solving-Revisited-Robert-Kowal...

   I am currently about halfway through an earlier edition of this book, and it is the first book I have found that clearly explains the ideas upon which Prolog is based.

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2. jamiebJan 2013
   With regard to section 3.5 "Know the definition of all terms", I found that in a given field these terms change over time. I wasn't really aware of it, and then I went back to a paper after reading about Domain Maps in Eric Evan's Domain Driven Design. Lightbulb! I quickly made a list of the terms used in each paper, and then drew lines between the identical or related terms.

   I have for some time been attempting to learn everything I can about automated theorem proving. A key paper is Robinson's 1965 paper "A Machine-Oriented Logic Based on the Resolution Principle". It uses quite different notations compared to, say, Kowalski's "Logic for Problem Solving". Robinson made an important contribution, but his work is like the assembly language of logic. Modern papers are much higher level. Kowalski's book is 1979, so its like C. My new domain map made these works much more comprehensible, especially as I switched between them.

   The other good point is patents. That's why I'm reading papers from 1965 and books from 1979.

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