ChatGPT prompts - Prolog - any implementation

EricGT · February 17, 2023, 8:22am

Accumulators

Prompt

In Prolog explain accumulator then demonstrate with a few examples.

ChatGPT Completion

In Prolog, an accumulator is a variable that is used to accumulate intermediate results during the recursive evaluation of a predicate. It is commonly used in recursive predicates where the result of the previous iteration is passed as an argument to the next iteration.

Here’s an example of how an accumulator can be used in Prolog:

sum_list(List, Sum) :-
    sum_list_acc(List, 0, Sum).

sum_list_acc([], Acc, Acc).
sum_list_acc([Head|Tail], Acc, Sum) :-
    NewAcc is Acc + Head,
    sum_list_acc(Tail, NewAcc, Sum).

In this example, sum_list/2 is a predicate that takes a list of numbers and returns their sum. It does this by calling the auxiliary predicate sum_list_acc/3 with an initial accumulator value of 0. sum_list_acc/3 recursively processes the list by adding each element to the accumulator and passing the new accumulator value to the next iteration, until the list is empty. At this point, the final accumulator value is returned as the sum of the list.

Here are some example queries and their expected results:

?- sum_list([1, 2, 3, 4], Sum).
Sum = 10.

?- sum_list([], Sum).
Sum = 0.

?- sum_list([5, -3, 2], Sum).
Sum = 4.

In each case, sum_list/2 correctly calculates the sum of the list by using an accumulator variable.

Example run of sum_list/2 using SWI-Prolog

?- sum_list([1,2,3,4],Sum).
Sum = 10.

?- sum_list([],Sum).
Sum = 0.

?- sum_list([5,-3,2],Sum).
Sum = 4.

Comparisons of integers

In other programming languages = might be used and in more refined programming languages == might be the correct operator but with Prolog for integers =:= is the correct operator. Does ChatGPT know this?

Prompt

In Prolog compare the numbers 1 and 1?

ChatGPT Completion

In Prolog, to compare two numbers you can use the comparison operator (e.g. > , < , =:= , =\= ). To compare the numbers 1 and 1, you can use the equality operator =:= . The expression 1 =:= 1 in Prolog evaluates to true.

Run Length Encoding

Prompt

What is Run Length Encoding?

ChatGPT Completion

Run Length Encoding (RLE) is a lossless data compression technique where consecutive data elements (such as characters in a string or pixels in an image) are represented as a single data value and count, instead of being listed individually.

Prompt

Demonstrate Run Length Encoding using Prolog.

ChatGPT Completion

Here’s an example of Run Length Encoding using Prolog:

% Define a predicate to perform run length encoding
run_length_encoding([], []).
run_length_encoding([H|T], Encoded) :-
    run_length_encoding(T, H, 1, Encoded).

run_length_encoding([], Current, Count, [[Current, Count]]).
run_length_encoding([H|T], Current, Count, Encoded) :-
    H == Current,
    NewCount is Count + 1,
    run_length_encoding(T, Current, NewCount, Encoded).
run_length_encoding([H|T], Current, Count, [[Current, Count]|EncodedTail]) :-
    H \== Current,
    run_length_encoding(T, H, 1, EncodedTail).

Example usage

?- run_length_encoding([a,a,a,b,c,c,a,a,d,e,e,e,e], X).
X = [[a, 3], [b, 1], [c, 2], [a, 2], [d, 1], [e, 4]]

Example run of run_length_encoding/2 using SWI-Prolog

?- run_length_encoding([a,a,a,b,c,c,a,a,d,e,e,e,e], X).
X = [[a, 3], [b, 1], [c, 2], [a, 2], [d, 1], [e, 4]] ;
false.

In case you didn’t know SWI-Prolog has the predicate clumped/2 that does RLE. (source code)

Example run of clumped/2 using SWI-Prolog

?- clumped([a,a,a,b,c,c,a,a,d,e,e,e,e], X).
X = [a-3, b-1, c-2, a-2, d-1, e-4].

Tail recursion

The first prompt is to show the standard simple Prolog code for generating Fibonacci numbers. This is done to compare with the tail recursion version that follows.

Prompt

Create a Prolog predicate to generate Fibonacci numbers.

ChatGPT Completion

Here’s one way to define a Prolog predicate to generate the nth Fibonacci number:

fib(0, 0).
fib(1, 1).
fib(N, F) :- 
   N > 1,
   N1 is N - 1,
   N2 is N - 2,
   fib(N1, F1),
   fib(N2, F2),
   F is F1 + F2.

This predicate uses two base cases, fib(0, 0) and fib(1, 1) , and a recursive case to calculate the nth Fibonacci number. The recursive case uses the Prolog built-in is/2 predicate to evaluate expressions and unify their values with variables. The predicate calculates the (N-1)th and (N-2)th Fibonacci numbers first and then adds them to get the Nth Fibonacci number.

Example run of fib/2 (standard) using SWI-Prolog

?- maplist(fib,[0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,9,9,10],F).
F = [0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 34, 34, 55] ;
false.

Prompt

Create a Prolog predicate to generate Fibonacci numbers using tail-recursion.

ChatGPT Completion

Here’s an implementation of a Prolog predicate to generate the nth Fibonacci number using tail-recursion:

fib_tail(0, Acc, Acc, 0).
fib_tail(N, Acc, F, C) :-
   N > 0,
   N1 is N - 1,
   C1 is Acc + C,
   fib_tail(N1, C, F, Acc).
fib(N, F) :- 
   fib_tail(N, 0, F, 1).

In this implementation, the fib_tail/4 predicate takes four arguments:

The current index N in the sequence

The accumulated value Acc, representing the previous Fibonacci number

The final result F, representing the Nth Fibonacci number

The value C, representing the current Fibonacci number

The fib/2 predicate is a wrapper around fib_tail/4 that initializes the accumulator with 0 and the current value with 1. The fib_tail/4 predicate uses tail-recursion, meaning that the final result is returned as the value of the last call to the predicate, rather than through an accumulation of intermediate results. This avoids the risk of exceeding the stack limit for large values of N.

A make of the fib/2 code with SWI-Prolog resulted in this warning:

Warning:    Singleton variables: [C1]

Running of the ChatGPT code always results in false because of the error.

A correct implementation of the code is

fib(N,F) :-
    fib_tail(N,0,1,F).

fib_tail(0, _, _, 0) :- !.
fib_tail(1, _, Result, Result) :- !.
fib_tail(N0, Fib_back_2, Fib_back_1, Result) :-
   N0 > 0,
   N is N0 - 1,
   Fib_back_1_new is Fib_back_2 + Fib_back_1,
   fib_tail(N, Fib_back_1, Fib_back_1_new, Result).

Example run of fib/2 (tail recursion) using SWI-Prolog

?- maplist(fib,[0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,9,9,10],F).
F = [0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 34, 34, 55] ;

Difference list

Prompt

What is a difference list?

ChatGPT Completion

A difference list is a data structure in computer science, used to represent the difference between two lists. It is an efficient representation of a list that allows for fast concatenation and reversal operations. Instead of storing the entire list, a difference list stores only the difference between the head and the tail of the list.

Prompt

Explain a Prolog difference list.

ChatGPT Completion

In Prolog, a difference list is a list representation that uses two variables to represent the beginning and end of a list. The two variables are usually called the “front” and “back” variables, or “H” and “T” (for “Head” and “Tail”).

To create a difference list, you first bind the “front” variable to a list, and then bind the “back” variable to a variable that represents the end of the list. For example, the Prolog term X-Y represents a difference list with the “front” variable X and the “back” variable Y.

To concatenate two difference lists, you simply unify the “back” variable of the first list with the “front” variable of the second list. For example, to concatenate the difference lists X-Y and Y-Z, you would write X-Z.

Using difference lists in Prolog can be more efficient than concatenating lists using the built-in append/3 predicate, especially when building up large lists incrementally.

Prompt

Give an example of a Prolog difference list.

ChatGPT Completion

Here is an example of a Prolog difference list:

[1,2,3|Tail]-Tail.

This difference list represents the list [1,2,3], where [1,2,3|Tail] is the head and Tail is the tail, representing the rest of the list. The | symbol is used to separate the head from the tail in Prolog. In this example, Tail is a variable that could represent any list.

Math

Prompt

Explain how Prolog uses is/2 for general purpose arithmetic?

ChatGPT Completion

In Prolog, the is/2 predicate is used for general-purpose arithmetic. It is used to evaluate arithmetic expressions and to assign the result to a variable.

The syntax of the is/2 predicate is as follows:

Variable is Expression

The Expression can be any arithmetic expression that Prolog can evaluate. This includes addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and exponentiation. For example, we can use the is/2 predicate to evaluate the expression 2 + 3 and assign the result to a variable as follows:

X is 2 + 3.

Prolog will evaluate the expression 2 + 3 and assign the result (which is 5) to the variable X.

We can also use variables in the Expression, and Prolog will evaluate the expression and assign the result to the Variable. For example, we can use the is/2 predicate to evaluate the expression X + 3 and assign the result to another variable Y as follows:

X is 2 + 1.
Y is X + 3.

Prolog will evaluate the expression X + 3, which will be 2 + 1 + 3 (since X is 2 + 1). The result of this expression (which is 6) will be assigned to the variable Y.

The is/2 predicate can also be used to evaluate more complex arithmetic expressions, such as expressions that involve parentheses or multiple operators. For example:

Z is (2 + 3) * (4 - 1).

Prolog will first evaluate the expression 2 + 3 (which is 5) and the expression 4 - 1 (which is 3), and then it will multiply the results (which is 15) and assign the result to the variable Z.

In this way, the is/2 predicate in Prolog is a powerful tool for evaluating arithmetic expressions and assigning the results to variables.

Parsing with DCGs

Prompt

Create Prolog predicate to convert a string to an integer using DCGs.

ChatGPT Completion

Here is an example Prolog predicate that uses DCGs to convert a string to an integer:

string_to_int(String, Int) :-
    phrase(integer(Int), String).

integer(0) --> "0".
integer(1) --> "1".
integer(2) --> "2".
integer(3) --> "3".
integer(4) --> "4".
integer(5) --> "5".
integer(6) --> "6".
integer(7) --> "7".
integer(8) --> "8".
integer(9) --> "9".
integer(N) -->
    digit(D),
    integer(M),
    { N is M * 10 + D }.

digit(D) -->
    [D],
    { code_type(D, digit) }.

The string_to_int/2 predicate takes a string as its first argument and an integer as its second argument. It uses the phrase/2 predicate to apply the DCG rule integer/3 to the string, resulting in the integer value.

The integer/3 rule defines how to parse a string into an integer. It first defines base cases for each digit from 0 to 9. Then, for any other digit, it recursively applies the digit/2 rule to parse the digit, and then multiplies the previously parsed value by 10 and adds the new digit to get the final integer value.

The digit/2 rule defines how to parse a single digit. It expects a single character, which must be a digit character, and returns its integer value.

Here’s an example usage of this predicate:

?- string_to_int("123", X).
X = 123.

It seems ChatGPT is not great at creating Prolog code using DCGs for open ended request or the prompt needs to be more specific.

Here is example code along the lines of what was expected.

string_to_int(String, Int) :-
    string_codes(String, Codes),
    phrase(integer(Int,_), Codes).

integer(N,Power) -->
    digit(Digit),
    !,
    integer(N0,Power0),
    {
        N1 is 10^Power0 * Digit,
        N is N0 + N1,
        Power is Power0 + 1
    }.
integer(0,0) --> [].

digit(Digit) -->
    [Code],
    {
        code_type(Code,digit),
        Digit is Code - 0'0
    }.

Example run:

?- string_to_int("123",X).
X = 123.

Wordle

TODO

Planning problems

Prompt

What are planning problems?

ChatGPT Completion

Planning problems are problems in artificial intelligence that involve finding a sequence of actions to achieve a particular goal or set of goals in an uncertain or partially observable environment. These problems are typically framed as decision making problems where the agent must choose actions based on the current state of the environment and the available information. The goal is to find a plan that minimizes the cost or maximizes the reward, subject to constraints such as resource limits and state transitions.

Prompt

Create a planning problem for changing a flat tire.

ChatGPT Completion

A planning problem for changing a flat tire could be framed as follows:

States:

The car is parked on the side of the road with a flat tire

The spare tire is in the trunk

The flat tire has been removed

The spare tire has been placed on the car

The lug nuts have been tightened

Actions:

Open the trunk

Remove the spare tire

Remove the flat tire

Place the spare tire on the car

Tighten the lug nuts

Goals:

Change the flat tire to the spare tire

Constraints:

The spare tire must be in the trunk before it can be removed

The flat tire must be removed before the spare tire can be placed on the car

The lug nuts must be tightened to secure the spare tire to the car

The goal is to find a plan that outlines the steps for changing the flat tire, subject to these constraints and ensuring the spare tire is securely in place.

Prompt

Generate Prolog code to solve the planning problem of changing a flat tire.

ChatGPT Completion

Here’s an example of a Prolog code to solve the planning problem of changing a flat tire:

% Define the states
state(car_parked).
state(spare_in_trunk).
state(flat_removed).
state(spare_on_car).
state(lug_nuts_tight).

% Define the initial state
init(state(car_parked)).

% Define the possible actions
action(open_trunk, state(car_parked), state(spare_in_trunk)).
action(remove_spare, state(spare_in_trunk), state(spare_on_car)).
action(remove_flat, state(car_parked), state(flat_removed)).
action(place_spare, state(flat_removed), state(spare_on_car)).
action(tighten_lugs, state(spare_on_car), state(lug_nuts_tight)).

% Define the goal state
goal(state(lug_nuts_tight)).

% Define the plan to change the tire
plan(Start, Goal, []) :- init(Start), goal(Goal).
plan(Start, Goal, [Action|Tail]) :-
  action(Action, Start, Next),
  plan(Next, Goal, Tail).

% Call the plan
?- plan(Start, Goal, Plan).

This code defines the states, initial state, possible actions, and the goal state for changing a flat tire. The plan predicate defines the plan for changing the tire, which takes the start state, goal state, and a list of actions as arguments. The plan is built recursively by finding the next state for each action and the goal is reached when the list of actions is empty. Finally, a query is made to find the plan.

Prompt

Demonstrate the Prolog code in the previous answer.

ChatGPT Completion

Here’s an example of how you could demonstrate the Prolog code:

?- [tire_change].
true.

% Now that the code is loaded into the interpreter, we can query for the plan
?- plan(Start, Goal, Plan).
Start = state(car_parked),
Goal = state(lug_nuts_tight),
Plan = [open_trunk, remove_spare, remove_flat, place_spare, tighten_lugs].

In this example, the Prolog code is loaded into the interpreter using the consult predicate ([tire_change]. ). Then, a query is made for the plan using the plan predicate, and the output shows the start state state(car_parked) , the goal state state(lug_nuts_tight) , and the plan to change the tire [open_trunk, remove_spare, remove_flat, place_spare, tighten_lugs] .

The ChatGPT code does not work as the first rule is always a solution returning an empty plan.
Example run on SWI-Prolog

?- plan(Start,Goal,Plan).
Start = state(car_parked),
Goal = state(lug_nuts_tight),
Plan = [] ;

Here is a fix to plan/3 so that it searches for a plan.

% Define the plan to change the tire
plan(Start, Goal, Plan) :-
    init(Start),
    goal(Goal),
    plan_(Start,Goal,Plan).
plan_(Goal, Goal, []) :- !.
plan_(Start, Goal, [Action|Tail]) :-
  action(Action, Start, Next),
  plan_(Next, Goal, Tail).

Example run on SWI-Prolog

?- plan(Start,Goal,Plan).
Start = state(car_parked),
Goal = state(lug_nuts_tight),
Plan = [open_trunk, remove_spare, tighten_lugs] ;
Start = state(car_parked),
Goal = state(lug_nuts_tight),
Plan = [remove_flat, place_spare, tighten_lugs].

Better but not a correct plan. The ChatGPT code does not check for preconditions (constraints) that need to be meet before the rule can be used.

Planning problems are often covered in AI and Prolog books. Here is a similar StackOverflow question and answer which uses the example code from “Artificial Intelligence - Structures and Strategies for Complex Problem Solving” by George F Luger (WorldCat).

Declarative reading

Prompt

What does a declarative reading for a Prolog predicate mean?

ChatGPT Completion

In Prolog, a declarative reading of a predicate means understanding it in terms of the logical relationships between the inputs and outputs, without necessarily considering the implementation details or order of execution.

In other words, a declarative reading focuses on the intended meaning of the predicate, and how it specifies a logical relationship between the inputs and outputs, rather than how it is computed or executed.
For example, consider the following Prolog predicate that defines the ancestor relationship:

ancestor(X, Y) :- parent(X, Y).
ancestor(X, Y) :- parent(X, Z), ancestor(Z, Y).

A declarative reading of this predicate would be to understand that it defines the ancestor relationship in terms of a person being an ancestor if they are a parent of the other person, or if they are the parent of an ancestor of the other person. The order of execution of the rules or the implementation details are not as important as the logical relationship that is defined.

In contrast, a procedural reading would focus on the steps that Prolog takes to compute the result, such as how it backtracks or tries different solutions to satisfy the rules.

Prompt

Write a declarative reading for the Prolog predicate ancestor/2.

ChatGPT Completion

The Prolog predicate ancestor/2 defines the logical relationship between two individuals, where the first individual is an ancestor of the second if they are the parent of that individual or if they are the parent of one of their ancestors. The predicate can be read declaratively as follows:

“An individual X is an ancestor of an individual Y if X is a parent of Y, or if there exists an individual Z for which X is a parent of Z and Z is an ancestor of Y.”

This declarative reading of the ancestor/2 predicate focuses on the logical relationship that is defined between the inputs and outputs, rather than on the procedural details of how Prolog evaluates the predicate. It emphasizes the definition of ancestorship in terms of a family tree and relationships between individuals, and not on how Prolog may search for and find solutions to satisfy the rules.

Create predicate given declarative reading

In a new chat so that the knowledge from an earlier conversation does not influence the completion.

Prompt

Create a Prolog predicate based on declarative reading below

An individual X is an ancestor of an individual Y if X is a parent of Y, or if there exists an individual Z for which X is a parent of Z and Z is an ancestor of Y.

ChatGPT Completion

Here’s a Prolog predicate that implements the declarative statement:

ancestor(X,Y) :-
    parent(X,Y).
ancestor(X,Y) :-
    parent(X,Z),
    ancestor(Z,Y).

This predicate defines ancestor(X,Y) as true if X is a parent of Y, or if there exists an individual Z for which X is a parent of Z and Z is an ancestor of Y. The first clause simply checks whether X is a parent of Y. The second clause uses recursion to check whether there exists an individual Z such that X is a parent of Z and Z is an ancestor of Y. This is accomplished by calling ancestor(Z,Y) within the second clause.

The declarative reading/meaning for the Prolog predicate ancestor/2 is so prevalent that this is not a true demonstration. However creating declarative readings is hard at first so asking ChatGPT to give a response might be of some help or even correct.

Or clauses

Prompt

Demonstrate a switch statement in SWI-Prolog using multiple clauses.

ChatGPT Completion

In SWI-Prolog, you can use multiple clauses to define a predicate that implements a “switch” statement-like behavior. Here’s an example:

% Define a predicate "switch" that takes a variable X and returns a corresponding value based on its value
switch(X, Result) :-
    X = 1, !, % If X is 1, set Result to 'One' and cut to prevent backtracking
    Result = 'One'.
switch(X, Result) :-
    X = 2, !, % If X is 2, set Result to 'Two' and cut to prevent backtracking
    Result = 'Two'.
switch(X, Result) :-
    X = 3, !, % If X is 3, set Result to 'Three' and cut to prevent backtracking
    Result = 'Three'.
switch(_, Result) :- % Default case: if X does not match any of the previous cases, set Result to 'Unknown'
    Result = 'Unknown'.

In this example, we define a predicate switch/2 that takes a variable X and returns a corresponding value based on its value. We use multiple clauses, each with a different condition that matches a specific value of X. If X matches a condition, we set Result to the corresponding value and use the cut operator ! to prevent backtracking. If X does not match any of the previous cases, we use a default clause that sets Result to 'Unknown'.

You can test this predicate by querying it with different values of X, as shown in the example usage below:

?- switch(1, Result).
Result = 'One'.

?- switch(2, Result).
Result = 'Two'.

?- switch(3, Result).
Result = 'Three'.

?- switch(4, Result).
Result = 'Unknown'.

In the last example, switch/2 returns 'Unknown' because the value of X (4) does not match any of the previous cases.

The given code is correct.

Switch statement

Prompt

Demonstrate a switch statement in SWI-Prolog using conditional and or.

ChatGPT Completion

SWI-Prolog does not have a built-in switch statement like other programming languages. However, you can use Prolog’s if-then-else and logical operators like ; (or) to achieve similar functionality. Here’s an example:

% Define a predicate that takes a variable X and returns a corresponding value based on its value
value(X, Result) :-
    ( X =:= 1 ->
        Result = 'One'
    ; X =:= 2 ->
        Result = 'Two'
    ; X =:= 3 ->
        Result = 'Three'
    ; X =:= 4 ->
        Result = 'Four'
    ; % Default case
        Result = 'Unknown'
    ).

% Example usage:
?- value(2, Result).
Result = 'Two'.

In this example, we define a predicate value/2 that takes a variable X and returns a corresponding value based on its value. We use the if-then-else structure to check if X is equal to 1, 2, 3, or 4 and set Result accordingly. If X does not match any of these cases, we set Result to 'Unknown'.

You can test this predicate by querying it with different values of X, as shown in the example usage above.

The given code is correct.

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ChatGPT prompts - Prolog - any implementation

Accumulators

Comparisons of integers

Run Length Encoding

Tail recursion

Difference list

Math

Parsing with DCGs

Wordle

Planning problems

Declarative reading

Create predicate given declarative reading

Or clauses

Switch statement

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