Lambda the Ultimate

A Possible Future History of Logic Programming [PDF, 98KB] by M.H. van Emden:

When the first edition of Senner's history came out in 2020, it was widely praised for its compelling view of the development over many decades of logic programming. Reviewers praised it for its broad perspective, but deplored its lack of historical detail. Since then several collections of papers have made their way from estates via the auctions to various libraries. Senner has taken this opportunity to incorporate these recent findings in a new edition.

What has not changed in the new edition, and this is what I take issue with, is that Senner presents the development of logic programming as a relentless forward march towards an inevitable outcome. Of course, it is true that not a decade went by without some of the building blocks being fashioned that we take for granted as part of the majestic edifice that now dominates the landscape of programming.

How did Prolog achieve world domination? (I thought Forth was going to win for sure?) Easy. Through the following contributions of the 90's to logic programming:

1. XML. The tree as universal data structure.
2. Execution via virtual machine.
3. Constraint programming.

What Senner's History of Logic Programming (MIT Press, 2020) fails to do is pinpoint the year in which revisionist historians of logic programming were decisively exposed for the frauds that they were. (Kidding.)