From bob@RATTLESNAKE.COM Mon Mar 11 10:22:06 2002 Return-Path: X-Sender: bob@rattlesnake.com X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: unknown); 11 Mar 2002 18:22:06 -0000 Received: (qmail 65404 invoked from network); 11 Mar 2002 18:21:32 -0000 Received: from unknown (216.115.97.171) by m9.grp.snv.yahoo.com with QMQP; 11 Mar 2002 18:21:32 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO localhost) (140.186.114.245) by mta3.grp.snv.yahoo.com with SMTP; 11 Mar 2002 18:21:31 -0000 Received: by rattlesnake.com via sendmail from stdin id (Debian Smail3.2.0.114) Mon, 11 Mar 2002 18:22:00 +0000 (UTC) Message-Id: Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2002 18:22:00 +0000 (UTC) To: xod@sixgirls.org Cc: lojban@yahoogroups.com In-reply-to: (message from Invent Yourself on Mon, 11 Mar 2002 11:28:23 -0500 (EST)) Subject: Re: [lojban] Programming Languages for Lojban References: From: "Robert J. Chassell" Reply-To: bob@rattlesnake.com X-Yahoo-Group-Post: member; u=810561 If one were to try to parse Lojban and use it for the internal workings of an inference engine, would Lisp or Prolog be more appropriate? Lisp is perceived as a more general purpose language than Prolog, so it more closely matches Lojban, which is a completely general purpose language. Also, people have written interpreters for many different programming languages in Lisp; I don't think as many have been written in Prolog. So someone who is willing to stand on the shoulders of others will have an easier time with Lisp. Am I right in thinking that you plan to write most of your inference engine in Lojban, and that you plan to use the Lisp or Prolog as just a boot strap mechanism? I am looking forward to your write ups about turning Lojban into a humanly speakable programming language. What is involved in making type checking optional? (The Lojban grammar makes it so, since you have a choice of including or not including a restrictive clause, i.e., one that tells you the type of the argument.) Under which circumstances will people prefer to use an imperative format, in which the computer is a robot that responds to orders, or prefer a format in which the computer answers questions? -- Robert J. Chassell bob@rattlesnake.com Rattlesnake Enterprises http://www.rattlesnake.com