The idea that logic could serve as a programming language" was put to practical use around 1972 in the formii of Prolog. 4 It has proved extremely valuable in imany amnbitious and diverse computational areas, includinig natural language processing, deductive databases, robotics, symbolic integration, and expert systems. Logic has traditionally provided a firmii conceptual framework for representing knowledge, as it can formally deal with the notion of logical consequence. The introduction of Prolog has made it possible to represent knowledge in terms of logic and also to expect appropriate inferences to be drawn trom it autonmatically. This article illustrates and explores these ideas with respect to two central representational issues: problemsolving knowledge and database knowledge. The technical aspects of both subjects have been covered elsewhere;5'6 this explanation uses simple, nontechnical termiis.
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