Challenges for Logic Programming
summary
core.logic (a miniKANREN port) and recent work on constraints and fork‑join extensions aim to graft logic into Clojure, which promises portability and functional hosts. Historical lesson: the Japanese Fifth Generation failure exposes risks — Hewitt argues causal form hides structure, real domains become inconsistent, and proofs can collapse into contradiction. Practical wins: Datalog (a simplified Prolog with guaranteed termination) resurfaces in databases like Datomic. The takeaway: use core.logic for precise problem specs but expect engineering work to avoid brittleness.
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chapters (23)
- 0:00Intro
- 0:23Prologue Last year at the Conj
- 2:15Outline
- 3:3325 years ago
- 5:48Cultural Challenge
- 9:39Pearl Fryar
- 13:03Art of Prolog
- 14:58Benefits
- 20:30Don Knuth
- 21:22Edward Feigenbaum
- 21:53The Fifth Generation
- 26:15Mixed reactions
- 29:50Development of Logic Programming
- 30:23Carl Hewitt
- 30:51Hewitt on Prolog
- 31:10The birth of Prolog
- 31:47Hewitt on Planner
- 31:59What Went Wrong
- 35:47Unifying Role of LP
- 36:20Failure of Fifth Gen
- 37:12Logic inspired
- 38:19Clojure can help
- 39:24Meeting Challenges
