Article View: comp.lang.prolog
Article #925Balance between theory and implementation
From: vanroy
Date: Wed, 27 Jun 1990 23:48
Date: Wed, 27 Jun 1990 23:48
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1253 bytes
Theoreticians need feedback from experiments to see if their ideas are practical. Otherwise logic programming will become a branch of mathematical logic, with no regard to computability or efficiency. For example, there has been much good theoretical work on dataflow analysis for Prolog, but few implementations. Hence there is no data (except for a few small trivial examples) to show whether any of the approaches is effective, or whether they are a waste of time. This area is still largely unexplored. There is a common notion that implementation is somehow lower than theory, which is somehow nobler. This notion is misguided. Both theory and implementation are human activities, requiring the full range of human creativity. Without implementation to guide it, theory is blind. Sincerely, Peter Van Roy
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!ucsd!ucbvax!pisces.uucp!vanroy From: vanroy@pisces.uucp Newsgroups: comp.lang.prolog Subject: Balance between theory and implementation Message-ID: <37305@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> Date: 27 Jun 90 23:48:37 GMT Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Reply-To: vanroy@pisces.uucp () Organization: University of California at Berkeley Lines: 15