415.360 Functional and Logic Programming 1997

Lecturers

        Dr. John Hamer
Email:  J.Hamer@cs.auckland.ac.nz
Phone:  +9-373 7599 x 8758
Office: 249, second floor Maths/Physics building

        Dr. Bahkadyr (Bahk) Khoussainov
Email:  bahk@cs.auckland.ac.nz
Phone:  +9-373 7599 x 5120
Office: 252, second floor Maths/Physics building

Software

There are some excellent, free implementations available of the main languages studied in this paper. If you have access to any kind of home PC, antiquated or hi-tech, then there is every chance that you will be able to work on assignments in the comfort of home.

``Hugs'', the functional language used in the first part of the course, is available in ready-to-compile source form for, e.g. Linux users (this is in gzip tar format), and as a pre-compiled binary for DOS. For the latter, you may also need a copy of UNZIP.EXE to unpack. There are also Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 versions of Gofer, which should be perfectly adequate substitutes for the DOS version of hugs, but with vastly superior development environments for those of you who run MS Windows.
OpenProlog, a free Prolog implementation for the Macintosh. I have not used this software, and know little more about it than is written here. If you use it, please let me know what you think.
SWI Prolog for windows 95. I have had only a brief look at this, but it looks to be a robust, fully-featured Prolog.
To uninstall, simply delete the temporary directory and the installation directory tree. ''
( I have not used this software, and know little more about it than is written here. If you use it, please let me know what you think. )
Here is some student feedback:
``It is a friendly and easy to use Prolog tutor which runs under Windows 3.1. You read the tutor in one window and operate the Prolog engine in another, so doing the exercises is a breeze.
``The main exercise is an adventure game, and you also build a genealogical database and an order entry system.
``I've only taken it as far as the end of the second chapter and have yet to find material which hasn't been covered in our lectures, but so far it has been both entertaining and educational.''

Poetry

There is not a lot of poetry written about computer science. If you come across any, please let me know (this could be the start of a collection...).

A Haskell Lover's Plea

COMPUTER LOVE

by Llewelyn Richards.

He holds my hand. With the other he says, "Look!
I press these keys, and then, on the screen it should ..."
It doesn't. "I need another program step. Perhaps I could ..."
He pecks, one handed, and thinks. I muse. If I took
My hand away would he notice? My reflection shook
On the screen when I laughed, but it was no good;
He just went on - my gesture wasn't seen nor understood.
I see his gestures. What do they mean? Into a hook
He bends his spare finger. A quick lunge. It jags a key;
Taps next; gently rubs; straightens and stabs; as told
By the brain. Each movement displays a mood momentarily.
But no fire runs back from key to man. The hand I hold
I squeeze. That fire runs to burn him, and as a plus,
On program over-ride I get a kiss. The cursor winks at us.