CS 6715 Functional-Logic Programming

CS 6715 Functional-Logic Programming
Course Outline Jan.-Apr. 2009

Syllabus Assigns Notes Projects Resources	Functional-logic programming integrates most of the features of the classical declarative paradigms, namely of functional programming and of logic programming. From the functional paradigm it inherits named or anonymous functions, nested expressions, efficient reduction strategies, higher-order functions, and types. From the logic paradigm it inherits named relations, logical variables, partial data structures, unification, and built-in search. The operational semantics of functional-logic languages is usually based on narrowing, a combination of unification for parameter passing and reduction as evaluation mechanism, which subsumes SLD-resolution and rewriting. Their model-theoretic semantics essentially extend relational Herbrand models by functional equations. Implementations can use interpreters, transformations into one of the component paradigms, or compilers for an extended Warren Abstract Machine (WAM). Applications include Semantic Web programs over metadata as well as Web Services that provide logic inferences and/or functional transformations over XML data. These notions are introduced in the course using the small functional-logic language Relfun and its serialisation in Functional RuleML.

Instructor

Harold Boley,

NRC

Classes

Thursdays, 1:30 - 3:50 PM, with middle break (Start: 8 Jan. 2009)

NRC (for UNBSJ students: videoconferencing)

Course Web Site

http://www.cs.unb.ca/~boley/FLP

Marking

30% assignments (3)

20% project documentation (ca. 10 soft pages)

20% project presentation (ca. 12 soft slides)

30% exam

Lecture Schedule Overview

Overview of declarative programming.	10%
Introduction to purely functional programming.	15%
Introduction to pure logic programming.	15%
A functional-logic integration based on call-by-value.	15%
Semantics of the functional-logic language Relfun.	10%
Basics of the Relfun implementations.	10%
The functional-logic XML syntaxes of RFML and Functional RuleML.	15%
Functional-logic Web Services.	10%