4 ms·

So You are saying that there is really not much difference between prolog and lets say constraint solver written in Java (DSL on top of another language)? Becau

by v-erne 4y ago

So You are saying that there is really not much difference between prolog and lets say constraint solver written in Java (DSL on top of another language)? Because if this really true than now I understand why this language never caught on.

dymk 4y ago
> now I understand why this language never caught on Can you illuminate why the language being a constraint solver tells you why it didn't catch on?
- v-erne 4y ago
  I believe in general purpose languages - from the business point of view its better to invest in one platform/language/ecosystem (if possible of course) than to spread too thin - each specialized language is potential liability (its trade-off but still the additional languages have to carry their own weight allowing for example to access more platforms)
stolen_biscuit 4y ago
I think you should do more than read one 4 paragraph comment before you cement an opinion on anything
- v-erne 4y ago
  It depneds on the comment and the article. I actually had some contact with prolog (did a semester in university mamy years ago) and still up till today did not find a reason to use it on real life - mainly because I have responsibily to keep my solutions maintainable for decades and I do not see how could I keep easily find people willing to work on prolog and not switch obver to where reall money is at. So when I saw an interesting insight that somehow maches my very old intuition (that prolog is mainly constraint solver) I wanted to ask more. And I believe that reading this whole introduction could potentially not give me this insight.
  - erik_seaberg 4y ago
    Learning almost any DSL pays off, when the alternative is to macroexpand the same stuff in your head and write out eye-glazing boilerplate.
    - v-erne 4y ago
      That seems like main reason any high level language exist - to give us abstraction layer with better building blocks to solve problems. The trick is to choose which DSL to use in project so its maintainable (and cost effective). I even long time ago learned some prolog (had a whole semester in university on it) but I cannot find a reason why I would use it anywhere in real projects.
marcosdumay 4y ago
Oh, well, Prolog is just a good DSL for a constraint solver. Usually written in C, but you can do it on Java too. As I said, I have never seen one integrated with any language (oh, well, now I have seen Flix).
- rscho 4y ago
  See Racklog in racket, that predates Flix by a long time.

by v-erne 4y ago

dymk 4y ago

> now I understand why this language never caught on Can you illuminate why the language being a constraint solver tells you why it didn't catch on?

v-erne 4y ago
I believe in general purpose languages - from the business point of view its better to invest in one platform/language/ecosystem (if possible of course) than to spread too thin - each specialized language is potential liability (its trade-off but still the additional languages have to carry their own weight allowing for example to access more platforms)

stolen_biscuit 4y ago

I think you should do more than read one 4 paragraph comment before you cement an opinion on anything

v-erne 4y ago
It depneds on the comment and the article. I actually had some contact with prolog (did a semester in university mamy years ago) and still up till today did not find a reason to use it on real life - mainly because I have responsibily to keep my solutions maintainable for decades and I do not see how could I keep easily find people willing to work on prolog and not switch obver to where reall money is at. So when I saw an interesting insight that somehow maches my very old intuition (that prolog is mainly constraint solver) I wanted to ask more. And I believe that reading this whole introduction could potentially not give me this insight.
- erik_seaberg 4y ago
  Learning almost any DSL pays off, when the alternative is to macroexpand the same stuff in your head and write out eye-glazing boilerplate.
  - v-erne 4y ago
    That seems like main reason any high level language exist - to give us abstraction layer with better building blocks to solve problems. The trick is to choose which DSL to use in project so its maintainable (and cost effective). I even long time ago learned some prolog (had a whole semester in university on it) but I cannot find a reason why I would use it anywhere in real projects.

marcosdumay 4y ago

Oh, well, Prolog is just a good DSL for a constraint solver. Usually written in C, but you can do it on Java too. As I said, I have never seen one integrated with any language (oh, well, now I have seen Flix).

rscho 4y ago
See Racklog in racket, that predates Flix by a long time.