Bøger af Patrick Blackburn

Cupid Missed is the story of a breakup, told from a man's perspective. Matthew is crushed when he returns home from work one night to find that his girlfriend, Kate, has moved out. He hadn't seen it coming, and he isn't handling it very well. His friends tell him to "Go out, get laid, and get over it," but he finds the advice easier said than done. When he's not concocting far-fetched schemes to get Kate back, Matthew is making terrible decisions at home and at work. He realizes the need to make changes in his life, but it seems he's more interested in doing things that only prolong the agony. Finally, in a desperate attempt to regain control of his life, Matthew quits his job and jumps on a plane to Europe for a pilgrimage of self-discovery. The result, according to author Ruth Francisco, is a "Dantesque journey to recovery (that) sends him on a hilarious journey into the sordid dens of debauchery in Amsterdam and Ibiza, where a guru in the guise of an Ecstasy-addled English girl teaches him life's lessons." While it's clear that Cupid's first arrow has hit Matthew squarely in the chest, the second arrow, meant for Kate, has missed wide right. Cupid Missed wryly explores the before and after of a relationship gone bad, and the steps, and missteps, Matthew takes to get over Kate.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the Third International Congress on Tools for Teaching Logic, TICTTL 2011, held in Salamanca, Spain, in June 2011. The 30 papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 62 submissions. The congress focusses on a variety of topics including: logic teaching software, teaching formal methods, logic in the humanities, dissemination of logic courseware and logic textbooks, methods for teaching logic at different levels of instruction, presentation of postgraduate programs in logic, e-learning, logic games, teaching argumentation theory and informal logic, and pedagogy of logic.

This is an advanced 2001 textbook on modal logic, a field which caught the attention of computer scientists in the late 1970s. Researchers in areas ranging from economics to computational linguistics have since realised its worth. The book is for novices and for more experienced readers, with two distinct tracks clearly signposted at the start of each chapter. The development is mathematical; prior acquaintance with first-order logic and its semantics is assumed, and familiarity with the basic mathematical notions of set theory is required. The authors focus on the use of modal languages as tools to analyze the properties of relational structures, including their algorithmic and algebraic aspects, and applications to issues in logic and computer science such as completeness, computability and complexity are considered. Three appendices supply basic background information and numerous exercises are provided. Ideal for anyone wanting to learn modern modal logic.

O Prolog é uma linguagem de programação, mas uma linguagem pouco usual. A designação "Prolog'' é abreviatura de "Programming with Logic'' e a relação com a lógica é o que dá ao Prolog o seu perfil especial. No seu âmago está uma ideia surpreendente: não dizer ao computador o que fazer. Em vez disso, descrevem-se as situações relevantes e a computação é efetuada quando se fazem perguntas. O Prolog deduz novos factos acerca das situações descritas e devolve essas deduções como respostas.Porquê aprender Prolog? Em primeiro lugar, a sua divisa "dizer qual é o problema em vez de dizer como o resolver" faz com que esta seja uma linguagem de muito alto nível, adequada para aplicações com estruturas de conhecimento complexas, tais como inteligência artificial, processamento de língua natural e web semântica. Ao estudar Prolog, o leitor verá como tarefas sofisticadas podem ser resolvidas computacionalmente. Para além disso, o Prolog exige um tipo de raciocínio diferente. Há que ver os problemas de um ponto de vista diferente, declarativamente em vez de procedimentalmente.Adquirir este espírito e aprender a apreciar as relações entre a lógica e a programação, fazem com que o estudo do Prolog seja desafiante e compensador.

Prolog est un langage de programmation tout à fait original. «Prolog» est l'abréviation de «Programmation logique», et le lien qu'il entretient avec la logique est ce qui lui donne sa spécificité. Au coeur de Prolog, réside une idée surprenante : ne pas dire à l'ordinateur ce qu'il doit faire, mais lui décrire des situations, et lui faire faire des calculs en lui posant des questions. Prolog déduira alors logiquement de nouveaux faits concernant les situations, et donnera en réponse ses déductions.Pourquoi apprendre Prolog ? Tout d'abord, l'aspect «dis-moi quel est ton problème au lieu de me dire comment le résoudre» de son approche en fait un langage de très haut niveau, adapté aux applications riches en connaissances comme l'intelligence artificielle, la linguistique informatique, ou le web sémantique. En étudiant Prolog, on arrive à une meilleure compréhension de la façon dont des tâches sophistiquées peuvent être effectuées informatiquement. De plus, Prolog demande un état d'esprit différent : il nous apprend à penser déclarativement au lieu de procéduralement. Acquérir cette façon de réfléchir et apprendre à apprécier les liens entre la logique et la programmation font de l'apprentissage de Prolog à la fois un challenge et une récompense.Prolog tout de suite ! est une traduction de Learn Prolog Now!). Gratuitement accessible en ligne depuis 2001 (www.learnprolognow.org), le texte anglais est devenu l'une des introductions à la programmation en Prolog les plus populaires, grâce à sa clarté et son approche résolument concrète. Il est très largement utilisé comme manuel dans les universités du monde entier, et encore plus largement comme support d'auto-formation.College publications est fier de proposer la traduction française de ce classique du web. Préparée avec soin, et grâce aux remarques des lecteurs de la version anglaise, cette traduction ne présente que les implantations de Prolog compatibles avec la norme ISO. Elle présente aussi le système de modules de Prolog, et fournit toutes les réponses aux exercices. Que vous appreniez Prolog pour élargir votre compréhension de la logique et de l'informatique, ou pour vous ouvrir les portes de la riche littérature sur Prolog et le Traitement Automatique des Langues, vous trouverez certainement ici tout ce que vous souhaitiez pour apprendre Prolog... tout de suite !