[eas_cs_seminars] 24th October 2017

[Luca Rossi]

Hi all,

Next week Prof. Robert Kowalski (https://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~rak/) will give
a talk titled "LPS as Step towards a Unifying Framework for Computing". For
more details see the abstract below.

The talk will be in MB231 from 2pm to 3pm.

Best,
Luca

===

Abstract:

Computer Science today rests upon shaky foundations of multiple, competing
languages and paradigms. On the one hand we have imperative languages for
programming, and on the other hand we have declarative languages for
program specification, databases and knowledge representation. LPS
(logic-based production system) aims to reconcile imperative and
declarative representations, by giving a logical interpretation to
imperative modes of expression. LPS includes logic programs, which are sets
of sentences of the form conclusion if conditions, and treats them as
procedures to reduce problems that match the conclusions to subproblems
that match the conditions. It also includes reactive rules of the form if
antecedent then consequent, which are a logical reconstruction and
generalisation of production system rules. Logic programs in LPS can be
regarded as representing the beliefs of an intelligent agent, and reactive
rules as representing the agent’s goals. Computation in LPS can be
understood as attempting to satisfy a global imperative to make the agent’s
goals true, by performing actions to make consequents true whenever
antecedents become true. Arguably, this way of understanding computation
makes LPS not only a practical computer language, but also a scaled-down
model of human thinking. In my talk, I will demonstrate an open-source,
web-based prototype of LPS, which was developed with Fariba Sadri and
Miguel Calejo, to support the teaching of computing and logic in schools.
The prototype is accessible from http://lps.doc.ic.ac.uk/.

-- 
Luca Rossi

Lecturer in Computer Science
School of Engineering and Applied Science
Aston University
Web: http://www.cs.aston.ac.uk/~rossil/ <http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~rossil/>
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