Logic Programming with Prolog

Concepts of Programming Languages

Prolog

• « programmation en logique »
• Developed by French programmer Alain Colmerauer (1941-2017)
• First version from 1972
• Turing complete
• Programs consist of a knowledge base containing facts and rules
• You cannot give "steps" how to solve the problem
• User posts a goal (query)
• Prolog interpreter uses rules and facts to find a solution
• Why Prolog:

Why Logic Programming Is the Best Choice for Authorization

Motivation from Hacker News comments

1. Prolog really is such a fantastic system, if I can justify its usage then I won't hesitate to do so. Most of the time I'll call a language that I find to be powerful a "power tool", but that doesn't apply here. Prolog is beyond a power tool. A one-off bit of experimental tech built by the greatest minds of a forgotten generation.

2. In university, Learning prolog was my first encounter with the idea that my IQ may not be as high as I thought

3. Always felt this would be language that Sherlock Holmes would use...so be sure to wear the hat when learning it

4. I really enjoyed learning Prolog in university, but it is a weird language. I think that 98% of tasks I would not want to use Prolog for, but for that remaining 2% of tasks it's extremely well suited for.

Motivation from Hacker News comments

5.
When I entered university for my Bachelors, I was 28 years old and already worked for 5 or 6 years as a self-taught programmer in the industry. In the first semester, we had a Logic Programming class and it was solely taught in Prolog. At first, I was mega overwhelmed. It was so different than anything I did before and I had to unlearn a lot of things that I was used to in "regular" programming. At the end of the class, I was a convert! It also opened up my mind to functional programming and mathematical/logical thinking in general.

I still think that Prolog should be mandatory for every programmer. It opens up the mind in such a logical way... Love it.

Unfortunately, I never found an opportunity in my 11 years since then to use it in my professional practice. Or maybe I just missed the opportunities?????

Terms

The single data type in prolog is a term. Terms can be either

• Atoms
• Numbers
• Variables
• Compound terms

Atoms

• Atoms are general purpose names without any inherent meaning
• Start with a lower case letter or are quoted
• Are defined implicitly

Examples:

x
red
romeo
pizza
'Pizza'
'foo bar'

The closest thing to an atom in other languages is a non-mutable string, which contains the name of the variable.

const string pizza = "pizza"

Variables

• Variables are placeholders for arbitrary terms
• Start with an upper case letter or an underscore
• Are defined implicitly

Examples:

• X
• Foo
• Romeo

Facts

Clauses without body are called facts.

The fact "Romeo loves Juliet" can be expressed as:

loves(romeo, juliet).

where loves is a predicate and romeo and juliet are called atoms.
Facts end with a dot (just like a semicolon in Java).

Rules

Clauses with a body are called rules and expressed as Horn clauses.

The rule "Juliet loves Romeo as long as Romeo loves Juliet." can be expressed as:

loves(juliet, romeo) :- loves(romeo, juliet).

• :- denotes logic implication (similar to an if)
• Left side is true if right side is true
• You can read it as an reversed implication arrow

Rules end with a dot (just like a semicolon in Java).

Facts are Rules

The fact from the previous slide

loves(romeo, juliet).

can also be written as a rule:

loves(romeo, juliet) :- true.

Interactive Prompt

• We will use https://swish.swi-prolog.org/ throughout the lecture
• Prolog can be used interactively by entering queries at the Prolog prompt ?-
• If there is no solution, Prolog writes no or false
• If a solution exists then it is printed, followed by yes or true
• If there are multiple solutions to the query, then these can be requested by entering a semicolon ; or n

Conjunction and Disjunction

Multiple predicates in the body of an expression can be composed as

• conjunction (logical and) using , (comma)
• disjunction (logical or) using ; (semicolon)

Note: usually it is better to write separate rules instead of a disjunction.

Example:

happy(juliet).
with_romeo(juliet).
dances(juliet) :- happy(juliet), with_romeo(juliet).

Logical operators

Standard Logic operators

Playing with variables

Given some facts:

loves(romeo, juliet).
loves(william, juliet).

Variables can be used to get everyone that loves Juliet:

?- loves(X, juliet).
X = romeo ;
X = william.

Or to express general rules:

grandparent(X, Y) :-
    parent(X, Z),
    parent(Z, Y).

Live Demo 1

likes(dan, sally).
likes(sally, dan).
likes(josh, brittney).

dating(X,Y) :- likes(X,Y), likes(Y,X).
friendship(X,Y) :- likes(X,Y); likes(Y,X).
%friendship(X,Y) :- likes(X,Y), \+ dating(X,Y).
%friendship(X,Y) :- likes(X,Y), not( dating(X,Y) ).

Live Demo 2

• Movies

Exercise 10

github.com/s-macke/concepts-of-programming-languages/blob/master/docs/exercises/Exercise10.md

Naming Conventions

• When referring to facts, the notion loves/2 refers to the predicate loves with two arguments
• More examples: true/0, length/2, ,/2, call/1, call/2, ...
• It is possible to define facts with a different number of arguments (differnt arity)

Hello World

Prolog supports printing values:

write('Hello World!'), nl.

Can also be used in rules for printing intermediate results.

Or to print the actual results in a nicer way:

get_loves_juliet :-
    loves(X, juliet),
    write(X), write(' loves Juliet'), nl.

?- get_loves_juliet.
romeo loves Juliet ;
william loves Juliet .

There is also format/2.

Usually it is fine to use atoms only. However, they have restrictions on length.

Lists

Denoted in brackets

L = [a,b,c].

length/2 gives you the length of a list:

?- length([1,2,3], X).
X = 3.

Split into head and tail:

?- [Head|Tail] = [1,2,a].
Head = 1,
Tail = [2, a].

There is also reverse/2, append/2, member/2 and many more.

SWI Prolog built-in list operations

Demo: Logical puzzles

www.brainzilla.com/logic/logic-grid/superheroes/

3 Kids: Bryan, Sean, Tony
3 Ages: 6 years, 8 years, 10 years
3 superheroes: Batman, Spiderman, Superman

Solve this logic puzzle to find out the name, the age and the favorite superhero of each kid.

1. Bryan likes Spiderman.
2. Tony doesn't like Superman.
3. The youngest kid likes Spiderman.
4. The kid who likes Superman is 8.

Exercise 10.2

github.com/s-macke/concepts-of-programming-languages/blob/master/docs/exercises/Exercise10.md

Arithmetic

• Standard operators +, -, *, /, >, <, =<, >=, =\=, =:= and is can be used
• Support for rational numbers as well as floats

Examples:

?- X is 1, Y is X+1.
X = 1,
Y = 2.

?- 3 =< 5.
true.

get_age(BirthYear) :-
    Age is 2020-BirthYear,
    format('Someone born in ~w is age ~w in ~w.~n', [Age, BirthYear, 2020]).

SWI Prolog General purpose arithmetic

Difference between is, =, == and =:=

Number is Expr evaluates to true when Number is the value to which Expr evaluates

?- 1 is 1+1-1.
true.

Term1 = Term2 is true if Term1 unifies with Term2

?- 1 = 1+1-1.
false.

Term1 == Term2 is true if Term1 is equivalent to Term2

?- 1 == 1+1-1.
false.

Expr1 =:= Expr2 is to true if expression Expr1 evaluates to a number equal to Expr2, i.e. float 1.0 =:= integer 1.

?- 1 =:= 1+1-1.
true.

Unification

Unification is mostly done implicitly while matching the head of a predicate. However, it is also provided by the =/2 predicate that tests if its two arguments unify. It is usually written infix.

Two terms unify if they are the same term or if they contain variables that can be uniformly instantiated with terms in such a way that the resulting terms are equal.

?- bob = bob.
true.

?- X = 2.
X = 2.

?- 2 = X.
X = 2.

?- X = 2*3.
X = 2*3.

?- loves(X,X) = loves(romeo,juliet).
false.

Not in Prolog

\+ Goal (same as not/1) is true if Goal cannot be proven.

?- \+ (2 = 4).
true.

This is not the same as logical not!!

Logical negation in Prolog is problematic:

• The only way to tell if a proposition is false is to prove it.
• If the attempt fails, Prolog concludes that the proposition is false.
• This may take very long or forever if not all relevant facts or rules have been given.
• This concept is known as negation as failure.

Try to avoid negative terms. Think positive!

Solution by side effects

Sometimes write can be used for printing the actual solution as a side effect:

% Towers of Hanoi

move(1,X,Y,_) :- write('Move top disk from '), write(X), write(' to '), write(Y), nl.
move(N,X,Y,Z) :-
    N > 1,
    M is N-1,
    move(M,X,Z,Y),
    move(1,X,Y,_),
    move(M,Z,Y,X).

run :- move(3,left,right,center).

Loops are done with recursion just like in functional programming.

Debugging Tools

Trace/1 enables tracing of a given predicate, very useful for debugging:

trace(loves).

Trace/0 traces everything:

trace.

Listing gives you a list of all known facts:

listing(loves).

You may also simply print intermediate results:

loves(X, Y) :- write(X), write(Y), nl.

Execution

• Logically, the Prolog engine tries to find a resolution refutation of the negated query.
• The resolution method used by Prolog is called SLD resolution.
• If the negated query can be refuted, it follows that the query, with the appropriate variable bindings in place, is a logical consequence of the program.
• In that case, all generated variable bindings are reported to the user, and the query is said to have succeeded.
• If there is no solution, Prolog writes no or false

Execution

• Operationally, Prolog's execution strategy can be thought of as a generalization of function calls in other languages, one difference being that multiple clause heads can match a given call.
• In that case, the system creates a choice-point, unifies the goal with the clause head of the first alternative, and continues with the goals of that first alternative.
• If any goal fails in the course of executing the program, all variable bindings that were made since the most recent choice-point was created are undone, and execution continues with the next alternative of that choice-point.
• This execution strategy is called chronological backtracking.

Live Coding

Three missionaries and three cannibals want to cross a river with a boat.
However, the small boat only carries at most two people.
On both banks, the missionaries may not be outnumbered by the cannibals, otherwise
it is to be feared that the cannibals overpower the missionaries and eat them alive.
Find a solution for the six people to safely cross the river.

Exercise 3

There is more to Prolog

• IO, Structures, Meta Predicates, Unit Tests, ...
• Tail Recursion, Hashing, Tabling, ...
• Many libraries, e.g. Unicode, YAML, HTTP, C-Bindings, ...
• Paxos: replicating key-value store (remember it from distributed computing?)

SWI Prolog Manual

PAXOS on GitHub

Applications: Authorization

engineering.gusto.com/why-logic-programming-is-the-best-choice-for-authorization/

Thank you