CT006-3-3: Advanced Programming Language Concepts

PROLOG: Rules and Structures

Week 9

Prepared by: JRK First Prepared on: 09-10-06 Last Modified on: 09-10-06 Quality checked by: Copyright 2006 Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology

Topic and Structure of the Lesson

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Rules in PROLOG Example queries Data structure Structure Pattern Matching Example

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Learning Outcomes
At the end of this chapter, you should be able to Explain the concept Logic Programming with Prolog Explain the concept of Rules, Structures and Pattern Matching Write Simple Prolog database with rules and structures
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Key Terms
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Rules Facts Structures Data structure Pattern Matching

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RULES
Consider a database with some facts: father(george,mary). father(george,john). father(fred,jim). mother(mary,sue). mother(mary,john). and the database also has some rules: parent(X,Y) :- father(X,Y). parent(X,Y) :- mother(X,Y).
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RULES

which mean: X is the parent of Y if X is the father or mother of Y alternatively: parent(X,Y) is true if father(X,Y) is true or if mother(X,Y) is true.

In a rule, on the left is the conclusion, eg parent(X,Y) on the right is the condition, eg father(X,Y) Thus if the condition is true then the conclusion is true.
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Example queries:
?-parent(george,mary). Try 1st rule: parent(X,Y) :- father(X,Y). Instantiate X=george & Y=mary New goal is father(george,mary) which matches a fact, therefore the condition father(george,mary) is true therefore the conclusion parent(george,mary) is true and result displayed is

YES
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Example queries:

?-parent(mary,W). Try 1st rule parent(X,Y) :- father(X,Y). Instantiate X=mary & Y=W New goal is father(mary,W) no match therefore fails

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Example queries (cont..):

Try 2nd rule

parent(X,Y) :- mother(X,Y). Instantiate X=mary & Y=W

New goal is mother(mary,W) which matches the fact: mother(mary,sue) and Instantiates W=Y=sue and displays result (W is the only variable in the query) W=sue
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DATA STRUCTURE
DATA STRUCTURE List Constant Integer Atom Term Variable Structure

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An argument of a predicate must be

A term or a list

Example fact: departs(last_train(stafford,london),2342).

the predicate, departs, has 2 arguments: last_train(stafford,london) 2342 is a structure is an integer constant

?-departs(last_train(stafford,X),2342).
Gives X=london
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Structures
Example: last_train(stafford,london) each argument in a structure must be a term or a list.

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Structures
Another example of structure in a fact: book(prolog,author(ivan,bratko)). ?-book(prolog,Who). gives Who = author(ivan,bratko) ?-book(prolog,author(_,Surname)). gives Surname = bratko ?-book(_,author(_,Surname)). Each solution would be a surname for all authors in database.
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Pattern matching
Arguments must be matched between predicates (ie queries, rules & facts)

Rules for Pattern Matching:

A variable (eg X, Who or _ ) matches anything.

A constant (eg sue or 123) matches a variable or itself.

A structure (eg last_train(stafford,london)) matches a variable or a structure with same name and all arguments match.
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Example:
A readers database contains facts such as: owns(john,book(prolog,author(ivan,bratko))). owns(jim,magazine(stern,date(13,3,94),language (german))). Etc

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Example (cont ):
?-owns(john,book(Topic,author(_,Surname))). Topic = prolog, Surname = bratko
?-owns(john,Book). Book = book(prolog,author(ivan,bratko)) ?-owns(_,magazine(Title,date(_,3,94),_)). Title = stern ?-owns(Who,magazine(_,_,_)). Each solution is somebody who owns a magazine.

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Example (cont ):
?-owns(Who,magazine(_,_,language(german))), owns(Who,magazine(_,_,language(french))). Each solution gives the name of somebody who owns a French and a German magazine! If the query has many solutions we have to press ; to get each one. May be we would want a list produced in one go as result of a query.
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Consider a query:
?-member (tom, [jim,mary,tom,sue]). X=tom, T=[mary,tom,sue] matches rule - member (X, [_|T]) :- member (X, T).

Try subgoal member (tom, [mary,tom,sue]) X=tom, T=[tom,sue] matches rule - member (X, [_|T]) :- member (X, T).
Try subgoal member (tom, [tom,sue]) X=tom matches fact - member (X, [X|_]).

Return true through subgoals to query and display

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Consider another query:

?-member(tom, [jim,Who,sue]).
X=tom, T=[Who,sue] matches rule - member (X, [_|T]) :- member (X, T). Try subgoal member (tom, [Who,sue]) X=tom=Who matches fact - member (X, [X|_]).

Returns true to subgoal and query displays

Who = tom

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DEMO

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Exercises
1. Using a predicate married_couple(Wife, Husband), define the relationshiops mother_in_law, brother_in_law, and son_in_law.
Write a PROLOG program to check if a student has met the requirements for a college degree. Facts will be used to represent the courses that the student has taken and the grades obtained, and rules will be used to enforce the college requirements.

2.

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Q&A

Any Questions?

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Next Session
PROLOG: Lists and Rules Prolog Examples Simple exercises

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