Other languages are different, but not that different

General
1

I think the original quote is from O’Keefe “Prolog is different, but not that different.”

Those students used to procedural/imperative languages sometimes have a hard time getting started with prolog, because it is a bit different, more a database query language than a command. There’s some truth in this.

Be careful not to get too much used to prolog, though. At some point it ruins your skills in procedural/imperative languages. I noticed this recently. I fail in rather simple tasks, when I have to solve problems in R or so.

2

Funny. I’ve always considered learning Prolog adds something to my skills in imperative languages. Notably, rather than just doing the thing you want to do, create a data structure that describes properties of the domain and have generic routines using these. In other words: encode more in data and less in code.

3

Interesting point. My observation (N = 1, of course) may also be a bit special to R. In 90% of the use cases in R, one just wants something to get done, so there is an impulse to start writing before actually thinking about the problem.

4

But isn’t that a problem? Should we not be discouraging “impulsive” programming?

And yes I understand that that is contrary to human nature.

5

Couldn’t one argue that it’s inadvisable to get too much used to imperative languages as it ruins your skills in prolog?