Product Description
The third edition of this guide to Prolog and Artificial Intelligence has been updated to include key developments in the field. Divided into two parts, the first part of the book introduces the programming language Prolog, while the second part teaches Artificial Intelligence using Prolog as a tool for the implementation of AI techniques. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

especially good for A.I.
A new edition will be out soon, in 2010.This is an excellent book on Prolog *and* on AI.

For example, chapter 19 is an introduction to inductive learning in first-order logic, an advanced topic rarely found in introductory books.The example program HYPER is a very powerful learner as compared to other "propositional" machine learning methods such as decision trees, neural networks, or support vector machines.I have ported HYPER to Lisp and am still exploring it.

Prolog is not a very popular language nowadays, but basic knowledge of it is still essential to learning logic-based AI.

Why is this the the best textbook on prolog?
Although this text is always mentioned in the same breath as other introductory textbooks on prolog, I don't think I've ever seen it described as "the best."
The book which usually takes the palm in such comparisons is"Art of Prolog."While "Art of Prolog" is an outstanding book, I think that now, in 2006, it has been eclipsed by the 3rd edition Bratko's book.Why?

Simply this: Bratko's textbook is (as far as I'm aware) the _only_ textbook on prolog which treats the language as a living, developing language!Other textbooks are great for their time, but they are unfortunately stuck in their time.Its as if nothing has happend to the prolog language since February 16, 1987.But this isn't true at all!

The biggest case in point: constraint logic programming!Bratko's text is the only introductory prolog textbook to even acknowledge the existance of CLP.And Bratko gives very lucid descriptions of it, along with very helpful examples and challenging exercises.

Another case in point: inductive logic programming!An entire new branch of machine learning theory has risen, based on logic programming, and NONE of the other introductory prolog textbooks cover it?Come on guys!

I would love to see a 4th edition of this book, because since this one has been published, logic programming has moved even further ahead.Constraint handling rules (CHR), logical functional languages (like Curry), using prolog for the semantic web, etc etc etc.It might be the best kept secret in computer science, but logic programming is really still one of the most exciting areas of programming, and Bratko's book does the best job of staying abreast of, and conveying the excitment of, this living and dynamic field.

Great book for learning AI with Prolog, but....
... a horrible Prolog tutorial.

This is not a good first book on Prolog. If you are new to Prolog and Logic Programming, you should read 'Art of Prolog' first.

Prolog is quite different from other languages, and you'll need some time to get it. This book doesn't give you that time: after briefly introducing the basic concepts, Bratko dives at breakneck speed into recursion and list processing.

Don't get me wrong, this is a magnificent book on how to do AI with Prolog, but it shouldn't be your first Prolog book. It's an excellent second book.

An excellent introduction to Prolog and concepts in AI
Professor Bratko has done a tremendous job of putting all the fundamental concepts of Prolog and its applications in various areas of AI. Although this book is focused on Prolog, the concepts that he has discussed are so fundamental that they can be implemented in other languages like Java as well.

I recommend this book to everyone who wants to learn Prolog. I would also recommend the readers to use a Prolog system to work out the examples and exercises as s/he goes through every chapter. A DEC10 Prolog system (like SICStus Prolog) would probably be the best companion for this book.

I thought the book could be better
I find the book does not adequetly explain the more complex code examples.First of all the code is not adequetly commented.Secondly, it does not explain the code well for programmers.First when introducing a program like in the expert systems shell chapter it should first define an interface for the program, and explain each goal listed.It should adequetly explain what each goal and clause should hope to achieve.Also, for the more complicated programs it should draw some type of diagram, maybe a flow chart or something that explains the concepts involved.It leaves too much figuring out and guessing for the reader.It is not very user-friendly!
On the positive side, it does an adequate job of explaining concepts when complex code is not involved.I found that I could follow along on even the more advanced chapters mostly everything at least until code was suddenly introduced.Then it became a guessing game as to what it was trying to do.
The author does not seem to realize that it is more difficult to try to understand somebody else's program than it is to write your own program from scratch.As a consequence the reader wastes a lot of time trying to guess what his program is doing.
Note: this review is of the 2nd edition and does not necessarily reflect the 3rd.But, then again, every other review on this page prior to mine is about the 2nd edition as well! ... Read more

Product Description
This text examines the interaction between the disciplines of law, computer science and artificial intelligence. The authors' hypothesis is that in years to come law will have a severe impact on computer science (via data protection and copyright); that computers will have an effect on law (via legal databases and electronic presentation of evidence); that law will impact on AI (via liability of intelligent software writers and codes of conduct); and that AI will have an impact on law (via models of legal reasoning and implementations of various statutes). The chapters are grouped into theory, implications and applications sections, in an attempt to identify separate, but interrelated methodological stances. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a good collection of papers about AI and law
This book covers many perspectives about artificial intelligence and law. It's easy to read and follow where you stay at your own major. ... Read more

Product Description
This book presents leading-edge research in the field of computer research, technology and applications. Each contribution has been carefully selected for inclusion based on the significance of the research to the field. Summaries of all chapters are gathered at the beginning of the book and an in-depth index is presented to facilitate access. ... Read more

Product Description
This work contains a selection of revised papers and state-of-the-art overviews on current trends and future perspectives of fuzzy systems. A major aim is to address theoretical, as well as application-oriented issues, and to contribute to the foundation of concepts, methods and tools in the field. The main topics are: fuzzy control; neural fuzzy systems; fuzzy systems and artificial intelligence; fuzzy classification; and theoretical aspects of fuzzy systems. All chapters start with an introduction to the main issues of the respective field, involving the state of the art. The subsequent papers in each chapter address recent dliverables and describe new ideas regarding the improvement of fuzzy systems. The book is written by researchers who attended the workshop "Fuzzy Systems '93 - Management of Uncertain Information", held in Brauchschweig, Germany, October 21-22, 1993. The workshop was organized by the German Society of Computer Science (GI), the German Computer Science Academy (DIA) and the University of Braunschweig. ... Read more

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Research results obtained by the authors in recent years form the basis of this volume. The motivation behind this research is the authors' belief that more human-like characteristics in problem solving should be involved in a formal representation in order to achieve better performance for computer-based problem solvers. A large part of the material is presented in the language of mathematics, including elementary topology, set theory and statistics. To help the less mathematically-trained readers follow the basic concepts and techniques, basic definitions and theorems are presented before the discussions. A conscious effort is made to introduce simple examples and applications in each topic. This book is designed for graduate students, research fellows and technicians in Computer Science, especially Artificial Intelligence, and also those concerned with computerised problem solving. ... Read more

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This book presents an easy-to-read, updated evidence theory and its applications, built on the Dempster-Shafer theory. The Dempster-Shafer theory significantly generalizes classic Bayesian statistics, and has been rapidly developed recently because of its many found applications in a variety of areas such as artificial intelligence, expert systems, information systems, decision making, statistics and mathematics. The volume gives an introduction to the Dempster-Shafer theory, introduces Barnett's methodology to linearize the time complexity of computation of evidential functions, discusses separable mass functions, and deals with rule strengths in expert systems.

This volume is intended for a widereadership, ranging from academics, to engineers, system developers and managers in information systems, computer science, and business management. The guide is adaptable for both lectures and self-study and is intended to strengthen the reader's background and problem solving abilities. ... Read more

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This monograph presents foundations for a constrained logic scheme treating constraints as a very general form of restricted quantifiers. The constraints - or quantifier restrictions - are taken from a general constraint system consisting of constraint theory and a set of distinguished constraints. The book provides a calculus for this constrained logic based on a generalization of Robinson's resolution principle. Technically, the unification procedure of the resolution rule is replaced by suitable constraint-solving methods. The calculus is proven sound and complete for the refutation of sets of constrained clauses. Using a new and elegant generalization of the notion of a ground instance, the proof technique is a straightforward adaptation of the classical proof technique. The author demonstrates that the constrained logic scheme can be instantiated by well-known sorted logics or equational theories and also by extensions of predicate logics with general equational constraints or concept description languages. ... Read more

Product Description
An introduction to evidence theory and its applications is presented in this book. It is based on the important Dempster-Shafer theory, which significantly generalizes classic Bayesian statistics and has proved to be useful in a variety of applications. The aim of the volume is to bring the theory up to date by focusing, in particular, on key work by Shafer and Logan as well as on some of the authors' own contributions.

The book is intended for a wide range of readers involved in areas as diverse as: artificial intelligence, expert systems, information systems, computer science, decision making, problem solving, business management, statistics, and mathematics. This systematic self-contained description of evidence theory based on set theory is suitable for both lectures and self-study and should serve to strengthen the reader's background and problem-solving abilities. ... Read more

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Contrary to general opinion, Artificial Intelligence research has often been carried out from a mathematical point of view, and frequently incorporates techniques of theoretical computer science. This book surveys various areas of Artificial Intelligence research, describing formal techniques. The areas chosen are most of those which have been – or can be – discussed with mathematical precision and clarity. The authors are all active researchers (in some cases international authorities) in their respective areas.

The volume is much more than a collection of `annotated bibliographies'. The papers survey the basic techniques of each field, giving information that will facilitate further reading.

The areas covered are: equations and identities in algebras, mechanical theorem proving, logical induction, intelligent data bases, qualitative reasoning, program verification and synthesis, automatic heuristic development and neural networks.

... Read more

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A global introduction to language technology and the areas of computer science where language technology plays a role. Surveyed in this volume are issues related to the parsing problem in the fields of natural languages, programming languages, and formal languages. Throughout the book attention is paid to the social forces which influenced the development of the various topics. Also illustrated are the development of the theory of language analysis, its role in compiler construction, and its role in computer applications with a natural language interface between men and machine. Parts of the material in this book have been used in courses on computational linguistics, computers and society, and formal approaches to languages. ... Read more

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There is growing evidence of a convergence between the technical challenges of developing advanced software systems on the one hand, and the formal techniques, tools and features evolving from the logic programming paradigm on the other. This book aims at promoting such convergence. It provides contributions towards different aspects of logic programming, which are relevant to the development of complex and reliable software systems and describes a number of advanced applications. The papers are organized around four main themes: Foundations; Languages Aspects and Methodology; Constraints; and Applications. The publication closes with an outlook on the challenges and opportunities lying ahead in the field of logic programming. ... Read more

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Distributed Database Systems (DDBS) may be defined as integrated database systems composed of autonomous local databases, geographically distributed and interconnected by a computer network. The purpose of this monograph is to present DDBS concurrency control algorithms and their related performance issues. The most recent results have been taken into consideration. A detailed analysis and selection of these results has been made so as to include those which will promote applications and progress in the field. The application of the methods and algorithms presented is not limited to DDBSs but also relates to centralized database systems and to database machines which can often be considered as particular examples of DDBSs. The first part of the book is devoted to basic definitions and models: the distributed database model, the transaction model and the syntactic and semantic concurrency control models. The second discusses concurrency control methods in monoversion DDBSs: the locking method, the timestamp ordering method, the validation method and hybrid methods. ... Read more

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Defines artificial intelligence, compares it with human intelligence, and explains how it is being used in computer technology and robotics. ... Read more

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The theory of tree languages, founded in the late Sixties and still active in the Seventies, was much less active during the Eighties. Now there is a simultaneous revival in several countries, with a number of significant results proved in the past five years. A large proportion of them appear in the present volume.

The editors of this volume suggested that the authors should write comprehensive half-survey papers. This collection is therefore useful for everyone interested in the theory of tree languages as it covers most of the recent questions which are not treated in the very few rather old standard books on the subject. Trees appear naturally in many chapters of computer science and each new property is likely to result in improvement of some computational solution of a real problem in handling logical formulae, data structures, programming languages on systems, algorithms etc. The point of view adopted here is to put emphasis on the properties themselves and their rigorous mathematical exposition rather than on the many possible applications.

This volume is a useful source of concepts and methods which may be applied successfully in many situations: its philosophy is very close to the whole philosophy of the ESPRIT Basic Research Actions and to that of the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science. ... Read more

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Paperback ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Huberman's essay is worth the price of the book.
Huberman shows that delay of information about other processors is sufficient to produce genuine chaos in distributed computer systems. He suggests this is true of cognitive production systems, i.e., organizations,as well. I call this phenomenon a Huberman game. Here's an example. A roomfull of people close their eyes and raise either one or two fingers.Assuming the split is not 50-50, which is most times, the majority must paythe minority a fine proportional to the difference. Repeat the process.Some of the majority, perhaps many, will change their gesture. If too manychange they lose again. Absent communication they are unlikely to convergeon a 50-50 equilibrium. Rather they will oscillate chaotically around it.This is the essence of commodity markets and business cycles generally.They are Huberman games driven by delay of information about what othersare going to do. Classic economics has always admitted that its assumptionof perfect information was false, but we never knew what difference itmade. I think Huberman has solved that puzzle. ... Read more

Product Description
While assuming no prior knowledge of AI or logic, this book provides an introduction to many of the most advanced developments in AI, as well as giving examples of their usage and critically assessing their applicability and effectiveness. Topics covered include planning, logic and inference, non-monotonic logic, reason maintenance, memory organization, probabilistic reasoning, induction and neural networks. The author concentrates on inference as a central theme, so as to present sophisticated material more readily. ... Read more