Mirqāt The Ascent of Logic

Specialized · a field of logic

Computational Logic

Logic programming and automated reasoning, logic made to run: Prolog, resolution, SAT, and the theorem provers.

An entry point for computer science

The problem
Which logical questions can a machine answer mechanically, and how do we make inference itself computable?
The turning point
Church’s λ-calculus and the undecidability of the halting problem fix the precise limit of mechanical reasoning.
An open question
How far can SAT/SMT solvers and proof assistants scale, and can machines find genuinely new proofs?

The Canon

  • Church An Unsolvable Problem of Elementary Number Theory 1936
  • Lloyd Foundations of Logic Programming
  • Robinson & Voronkov Handbook of Automated Reasoning

To study it

  • Sterling & Shapiro The Art of Prolog
  • Fitting First-Order Logic and Automated Theorem Proving