Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!decvax!decwrl!ucbvax!NBS-VMS.ARPA!cugini From: cugini@NBS-VMS.ARPA.UUCP Newsgroups: mod.ai Subject: Functional programming and AI Message-ID: <8605271642.AA09458@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Date: Wed, 21-May-86 14:14:00 EDT Article-I.D.: ucbvax.8605271642.AA09458 Posted: Wed May 21 14:14:00 1986 Date-Received: Tue, 27-May-86 17:59:59 EDT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Reply-To: "CUGINI, JOHN" Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 23 Approved: ailist@sri-ai.arpa Here's a (dumb?) question for assorted AI wizards: how (if at all) does functional programming support AI type applications? By "functional programming", I mean the ability of a language to treat functions (or some other embodiment of an algorithm) as a data object: something that can be passed from one routine to another, created or modified, and then applied, all at run-time. Lisp functions are an example, as is C_Prolog's ability to construct predicates from lists with the =.. operator, and the OPS5 "build" action. Do working AI programs really exploit these features a lot? Eg, do "learning" programs construct unforeseen rules, perhaps based on generalization from examples, and then use the rules? Or is functional programming just a trick that happens to be easy to implement in an interpreted language? Thanks for any thoughts on this... John Cugini Institute for Computer Sciences and Technology National Bureau of Standards ------