Pitfalls in PROLOG programming
Kris. Ng, W Y · ACM SIGPLAN Notices · 1986
A programming language is an intermediate medium between the human user and the machine. Ideally it should reduce the gap between human reasoning and the machine's processing mechanism to the minimum. Accordingly, none of the contemporaryprogramming languages can be said to be ideal. Prolog is no exception. However, it is usually emphasized that programming in Prolog is very easy, even a beginner can handle it within a few hours of learning. The rationale behind this conception is that Prolog clauses are actually some logical statements, and logic is the basis of every rational subject. The problem arises in that Prolog programming is not equivalent to logic programming. Prolog still shares the effect of the influence of the fundamental Von Neumann computer architecture on conventional programming languages. If a user wants to write a Prolog program just according to his logical reasoning, he will probably fall into an unexpected trap of the language.