7 ms·

It's taken ages for anything from functional programming to penetrate general use. Do you think uptake of logic stuff will be any faster?

by dmead 2y ago

johnnyjeans 2y ago
Prolog (and logic programming in general) is much older than you think. In fact, if we take modern functional programming to have been born with John Backus' Turing Award presentation[1], then it even predates it. Many advancements to functional programming were implemented on top of Prolog! Erlang's early versions were built on top of a Prolog-derived language who's name escapes me. It's the source of Erlang's unfamiliar syntax for more unlearned programmers. It's very much like writing Prolog if you had return values and no cuts or complex terms. As for penetrating general use, probably not without a major shift in the industry. But it's a very popular language just on the periphery, even to this day. [1] - https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/359576.359579 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/359576.359579
- dmead 2y ago
  Did you just answer me with chatgpt?
  - hydrolox 2y ago
    definitely not how chat gpt writes
  - exe34 2y ago
    > top of a Prolog-derived language who's name escapes me are you saying we've made a huge leap in LLMs - that they can now admit when they don't know something?
    - diggan 2y ago
      With the right prompting you can get LLMs to output pretty much anything :) > What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen Eurasian blue tit? > I’m not sure. The specific airspeed velocity of an unladen Eurasian blue tit hasn't been studied or widely documented in the same way that birds like swallows have been. It would likely depend on many factors like the bird’s weight, wing shape, and wind conditions. If you’re looking for general information about bird flight or blue tits, I can help with that! /GPT-4o
      - YeGoblynQueenne 2y ago
        GPT-4o is a fan of Monty Python's O.o
        diggan 2y ago
        Surprised me initially too, but then I remembered it's trained on web content, makes a lot of sense then.
- dragonwriter 2y ago
  > Erlang's early versions were built on top of a Prolog-derived language who's name escapes me. AFAIK, Erlang was originally implemented in Prolog and the original VM was inspired by the Warren Abstract Machine targeted by some Prolog implementations. It was also inspired by PLEX, but PLEX wasn't a Prolog derivative.
  - johnnyjeans 2y ago
    Oh, apparently I only had half the story. I remembered reading that it was written in a committed-choice derivative of Prolog for concurrency reasons, but apparently that was just a failed experiment that happened early on.[1] [1] - https://erlangforums.com/t/is-the-first-version-of-erlang-written-in-prolog/3986/9 https://erlangforums.com/t/is-the-first-version-of-erlang-wr...

It's taken ages for anything from functional programming to penetrate general use. Do you think uptake of logic stuff will be any faster?

by dmead 2y ago

It's taken ages for anything from functional programming to penetrate general use. Do you think uptake of logic stuff will be any faster?

johnnyjeans 2y ago

Prolog (and logic programming in general) is much older than you think. In fact, if we take modern functional programming to have been born with John Backus' Turing Award presentation[1], then it even predates it. Many advancements to functional programming were implemented on top of Prolog! Erlang's early versions were built on top of a Prolog-derived language who's name escapes me. It's the source of Erlang's unfamiliar syntax for more unlearned programmers. It's very much like writing Prolog if you had return values and no cuts or complex terms. As for penetrating general use, probably not without a major shift in the industry. But it's a very popular language just on the periphery, even to this day. [1] - https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/359576.359579 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/359576.359579

dmead 2y ago
Did you just answer me with chatgpt?
- hydrolox 2y ago
  definitely not how chat gpt writes
- exe34 2y ago
  > top of a Prolog-derived language who's name escapes me are you saying we've made a huge leap in LLMs - that they can now admit when they don't know something?
  - diggan 2y ago
    With the right prompting you can get LLMs to output pretty much anything :) > What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen Eurasian blue tit? > I’m not sure. The specific airspeed velocity of an unladen Eurasian blue tit hasn't been studied or widely documented in the same way that birds like swallows have been. It would likely depend on many factors like the bird’s weight, wing shape, and wind conditions. If you’re looking for general information about bird flight or blue tits, I can help with that! /GPT-4o
    - YeGoblynQueenne 2y ago
      GPT-4o is a fan of Monty Python's O.o
      - diggan 2y ago
        Surprised me initially too, but then I remembered it's trained on web content, makes a lot of sense then.
dragonwriter 2y ago
> Erlang's early versions were built on top of a Prolog-derived language who's name escapes me. AFAIK, Erlang was originally implemented in Prolog and the original VM was inspired by the Warren Abstract Machine targeted by some Prolog implementations. It was also inspired by PLEX, but PLEX wasn't a Prolog derivative.
- johnnyjeans 2y ago
  Oh, apparently I only had half the story. I remembered reading that it was written in a committed-choice derivative of Prolog for concurrency reasons, but apparently that was just a failed experiment that happened early on.[1] [1] - https://erlangforums.com/t/is-the-first-version-of-erlang-written-in-prolog/3986/9 https://erlangforums.com/t/is-the-first-version-of-erlang-wr...