From: Mike Thompson
Subject: How do I learn about AI, Prolog, and/or Lisp
Date:
Message-ID: <398@mfgfoc.UUCP>
I have just graduated with a B.S. degree in Computer Engineering and
I am finding that I am extremely interested in A.I. and Expert Systems.
Unfortunately, my education did not touch on any of these areas (which
I think is almost a crime these days) so I guess I am going to have
to take the initiative, and teach myself. The company I now work for
could benefit from somebody knowledgeable in this area and my manager
is encouraging me to learn an AI language by offering to pay for any
classes I take from a local college.
I have three question which I hope one of you can answer:
1. I have an IBM/XT at home with the newest version of TURBO PROLOG.
Can I use this system to gain an understanding of AI applications
such as expert systems? If so, what books can help me? I have not
seen Turbo Prolog mentioned in this newsgroup and I fear that
it is considered by experts to be a toy Prolog or an implementation
so neutered as to be worthless.
2. Does anyone know of classes offered in my area (I live in Los Altos,
California) at local colleges which would teach me Prolog? I have already
checked local community colleges, but their classes are only on
languages such as Fortran, Cobal, Pascal or 'C'. Would I be better taking
a more general class on AI instead of a specific language? Should I
consider Lisp over Prolog? (It came with GNU Emacs and is available on
my Unix system at work.)
3. What is the best way to get introduced to the AI field? I'm I
taking the right approach? Any comments would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Mike Thompson
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael P. Thompson FOCUS Semiconductor Systems, Inc.
net: (sun!daver!mfgfoc!engfoc!mike) 570 Maude Court
att: (408) 738-0600 Sunnyvale, CA 94086 USA
From: Jeff Hartung
Subject: Re: How do I learn about AI, Prolog, and/or Lisp
Date:
Message-ID: <791@arctic.nprdc.arpa>
Newsgroups: comp.ai,comp.lang.prolog,comp.lang.lisp
Subject: AI Ph.D programs
Summary: What's around?
Expires:
References: <···@mfgfoc.UUCP>
Sender:
Reply-To: ·······@nprdc.arpa (Jeff Hartung)
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Distribution:
Organization: Navy Personnel R&D Center, San Diego
Keywords: AI University Ph.D Programs
I received this request from a co-worker and thought I might get some useful
information for her by posting it to comp.ai. Any help is much appreciated.
Please respond directly to her via e-mail. Her address is:
ARPA - ········@nprdc.arpa
UUCP - !ucsd!nprdc!greebler
Thanks in advance,
--Jeff Hartung--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From ········@nprdc.arpa Fri Aug 19 18:32:11 1988
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From: ········@nprdc.arpa (Carol Greebler)
Message-Id: <··················@pacific.ARPA>
Date: 19 August 1988 1834-PDT (Friday)
To: ·······@nprdc.arpa
Subject: ai
Reply-To: ········@nprdc.arpa
I have a friend who is interested in a PhD program in AI. Do you know
who at UCSD or NPRDC (or elsewhere) I could get some info on schools or
jobs on AI. He wants to find out where the best places to go.
Thanks
Carol
From: John Weber, Celtic sysmom
Subject: Re: How do I learn about AI, Prolog, and/or Lisp
Date:
Message-ID: <952@scovert.sco.COM>
In article <···@mfgfoc.UUCP> ····@mfgfoc.UUCP (Mike Thompson) writes:
<...>
>I have three question which I hope one of you can answer:
>
>1. I have an IBM/XT at home with the newest version of TURBO PROLOG.
>Can I use this system to gain an understanding of AI applications
>such as expert systems? If so, what books can help me? I have not
>seen Turbo Prolog mentioned in this newsgroup and I fear that
>it is considered by experts to be a toy Prolog or an implementation
>so neutered as to be worthless.
(Creak... Damn, this asbestos suit is getting stiff...
ZIP! Humm... Enough nitrogen. Hisssss... POP! Foosh...)
My exerence with Turbo "Prolog" was extermely negative. It
may be a useful language, but I kinda doubt it. It doesn't
support such things as asserting predicates into the data
base, the syntax isn't C&M, and it is strongly typed. It
is also extremely slow.
(Click.)
If you can get a hold of C-Prolog or SB-prolog, they are
quite acceptable and useful implementations. These are
for UN*X. Arity Prolog is a good commercial prolog for
the IBM PCish boxes.
>2. Does anyone know of classes offered in my area (I live in Los Altos,
>California) at local colleges which would teach me Prolog? I have already
>checked local community colleges, but their classes are only on
>languages such as Fortran, Cobal, Pascal or 'C'. Would I be better taking
>a more general class on AI instead of a specific language? Should I
>consider Lisp over Prolog? (It came with GNU Emacs and is available on
>my Unix system at work.)
Lisp and Prolog address different language issues, and are
both good and useful languages. Prolog is quite different
from most "normal" languages, and may pose certain learning
difficulties. My personal favorite Lisps are Kyoto Common
Lisp and MIT C-Scheme. They are for UN*X, again. There
is a Scheme dialect for Macs, but I've never played with it.
Microsoft has a Lisp for MS-DOS (supposedly it is Common
Lisp, but again, I haven't played with it). Emacs Lisp
is useful in the context of Emacs, but I don't think it
would make a good way to learn lisp.
I personally like Lisp more than I like Prolog, but that
is a taste thing. Lisp can also be much faster.
Oh, are you on a 4.* BSD box? If so, there may be Franz Lisp
floating around your bin directories. Sun also has a really
good Lisp package (or so I'm told).
I thought De Anza Jr. College offered an AI class which
taught Lisp, but it's been a while since I took a class
there.
>3. What is the best way to get introduced to the AI field? I'm I
>taking the right approach? Any comments would be appreciated.
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
No sweat.
>Mike Thompson
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Michael P. Thompson FOCUS Semiconductor Systems, Inc.
>net: (sun!daver!mfgfoc!engfoc!mike) 570 Maude Court
>att: (408) 738-0600 Sunnyvale, CA 94086 USA
Please note: these are my own opinions, and in no way reflect
the opinions of my employers.
--
#############################################################################
# # #
# "In the fields of Hell, # John Weber, ...!uunet!sco!johnwe #
# where the grass grows high, # @·····················@sco.COM #
# are the graves of dreams, # #
# allowed to die." -- Author unknown # Celtic sysmom with an ATTITUDE! #
# # Any opinions expressed are my own #
#############################################################################
From: Todd Ogasawara
Subject: Re: How do I learn about AI, Prolog, and/or Lisp
Date:
Message-ID: <2276@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu>
In article <···@scovert.sco.COM> johnwe (John Weber, Celtic sysmom) writes:
>In article <···@mfgfoc.UUCP> ····@mfgfoc.UUCP (Mike Thompson) writes:
>>1. I have an IBM/XT at home with the newest version of TURBO PROLOG.
>>Can I use this system to gain an understanding of AI applications
>>such as expert systems? If so, what books can help me? I have not
> for UN*X. Arity Prolog is a good commercial prolog for
> the IBM PCish boxes.
I use, and like, Arity/Prolog a lot. I have both the interpreter and
compiler. However, I would advise against trying to use it on a
4.77MHz IBM PC type box. For yucks, I loaded API 5.x on my aged PC
when I received the most recent update. The latest version of Arity is
very big and is very slow on a 4.77MHz PC. I found the speed to be
almost acceptable on a 9.54MHz V30 based NEC Multispeed though. And,
it is a viable development tool on a 10MHz 80286 based AT-clone.
> Lisp and Prolog address different language issues, and are
> both good and useful languages. ==> Prolog is quite different
> from most "normal" languages, and may pose certain learning
> difficulties. <== My personal favorite Lisps are Kyoto Common
I think the same is said of LISP. I use both LISP and Prolog depending
on what I am working on. My recollection is that Prolog was easier to
learn and allowed me to do the things it does best very quickly
(manipulate data in a database-like functions, pattern matching,
etc.). I also found that when I needed to manipulate MIDI devices
(Musical Interface for Digital Instruments), LISP felt very "natural"
in that list-of-notes environment.
I think that people who are surveying what is out there should at least
investigate both LISP and Prolog and decide which language fits their
needs best. In my case, it was both, depending on what I was doing.
--
Todd Ogasawara, U. of Hawaii Faculty Development Program
UUCP: {uunet,ucbvax,dcdwest}!ucsd!nosc!uhccux!todd
ARPA: ···········@nosc.MIL BITNET: ····@uhccux
INTERNET: ····@uhccux.UHCC.HAWAII.EDU <==I'm told this rarely works
From: Kevin Castleberry
Subject: Re: How do I learn about AI, Prolog, and/or Lisp
Date:
Message-ID: <984@mdbs.UUCP>
> Microsoft has a Lisp for MS-DOS (supposedly it is Common
> Lisp, but again, I haven't played with it).
Is this true? Microsoft has a lisp?
Technical Support for mdbs products:
KMAN (a relational db environment),
GURU (an expert system development environment),
MDBS III (a post-relational high performance dbs)
(Our products run in VMS, UNIX, OS/2 and MSDOS.)
is available by emailing to: ·······@mdbs.uucp
or
{rutgers,ihnp4,decvax,ucbvax}!pur-ee!mdbs!support
The mdbs BBS can be reached at: (317) 447-6685
300/1200/2400 baud, 8 bits, 1 stop bit, no parity
Kevin Castleberry (kbc)
Director of Customer Services
Micro Data Base Systems Inc.
P.O. Box 248
Lafayette, IN 47902
(317) 448-6187
For sales call: (800) 344-5832
From: Todd Ogasawara
Subject: Re: How do I learn about AI, Prolog, and/or Lisp
Date:
Message-ID: <2337@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu>
In article <···@mdbs.UUCP> ···@mdbs.UUCP (Kevin Castleberry) writes:
>> Microsoft has a Lisp for MS-DOS (supposedly it is Common
>> Lisp, but again, I haven't played with it).
>Is this true? Microsoft has a lisp?
Yes, Microsoft has a Lisp they license from a firm in Honolulu called
Soft WareHouse. Soft WareHouse sells the same product under the name
muLISP-87. muLISP itself is NOT a Common Lisp. However, it comes with a
support library (source code in Lisp included) that adds the Common Lisp
functions to muLISP.
They also have an optional incremental compiler (I think this option is
$100 or so, I haven't bought it myself).
muLISP is no replacement for a big expensive Lisp workstation. But, if you
want a small, inexpensive, relatively speedy full Lisp development, I
recommend you look at this package.
It is small and fast enough to use on my 4.77MHz 8088-based Toshiba T-1000
when I feel like doing some Lisp programming away from my office in the
shade of a tree.
Soft WareHouse also has an interesting license. It reads "the software
shall be run on at most five (5) computers residing in a single building or
facility, under the control of END USER." Pretty reasonable, I think.
--
Todd Ogasawara, U. of Hawaii Faculty Development Program
UUCP: {uunet,ucbvax,dcdwest}!ucsd!nosc!uhccux!todd
ARPA: ···········@nosc.MIL BITNET: ····@uhccux
INTERNET: ····@uhccux.UHCC.HAWAII.EDU <==I'm told this rarely works