The Prolog Day Symposium

November 10, 2022

The Prolog Day Symposium presented the highlights of the Year of Prolog, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the birth of Prolog. There were more than 230 registered participants, both in-person at the auditorium and on line. It was broadcast online and recorded.

The Symposium included several sessions with presentations and round tables and the awarding of the inaugural edition of the ALP Alain Colmerauer Prolog Heritage Prize (in short: the Alain Colmerauer Prize) for recent practical accomplishments that highlight the benefits of Prolog-inspired computing for the future.

The morning was devoted to the nature and importance of Prolog, Prolog thinking, and Prolog education. The first session visited the past, present, and future of Prolog and explored its advantages as a language for explainable AI and for computing more generally. The second session discussed the topics of Prolog thinking and Prolog Education and presented the ongoing Prolog education initiative for introducing young people to Prolog.

The afternoon was devoted to the applications of Prolog, including also the session devoted to the Alain Colmerauer prize, with presentations of the Prolog applications selected as the five finalists for the prize. This was followed by the awarding of the prize and the launching of the "Future of Prolog Initiative".

A brochure was edited with details on the day, the speakers, and sponsors. You can also browse through some photos of the event.

Detailed Program:

Welcome and ringmaster of the morning: Jean Rohmer

09h00 – 09h15: Opening Addresses Jean Rohmer and Guy-Alain Narboni
09h15 – 10h45: Session 1 What is Prolog and why is it important? - Chair: Robert Kowalski
Talk: 50 years of Prolog and Beyond by Manuel Hermenegildo, and Round Table including Stefania Costantini, Randy Goebel, Gopal Gupta, Michael Genesereth, Manuel Hermenegildo, Jean Rohmer, and David S. Warren. Questions posed to the panel.
10h45 – 11h15: Break
11h15 – 12h45: Session 2 Prolog Thinking and Education - Chair: Veronica Dahl
Talk: Prolog's Educational Potential by Veronica Dahl and Round Table including Laura Cecchi, Robert Kowalski, José Francisco Morales, Asya Stoyanova-Doycheva, and Markus Triska. Questions posed to the panel.
12h45 – 14h15: Lunch

Welcome and ringmaster of the afternoon: Célestin Sedogbo

14h15 – 14h45: Alain Colmerauer and the Prolog Adventure (film)
14h45 – 15h00: On stage: Several generations of Prolog Heroes

15h00 – 16h00: Session 3: Prolog-powered applications - Chairs: Laurent Gouzènes and Annie Liu
Talk: Survey of Prolog Applications by Laurent Gouzènes and Round Table (Chair: David S. Warren) including Mats Carlsson, Laurent Cervoni, John Gallagher, Laurent Gouzènes, Benjamin Grosof, Clive Spenser, Theresa Swift, and Jan Wielemaker. Questions posed to the panel.
Session 4: Alain Colmerauer Prize - Chair: Francesca Rossi / Manuel Hermenegildo
16h00 – 16h40: Presentations by finalists:
- ProB: Harnessing the Power of Prolog to Bring Formal Models and Mathematics to Life. Michael Leuschel and STUPS Group.
- Logic Model Processing. Pierre Dissaux.
16h40 – 17h00: Break
17h00 – 18h00: Presentations by finalists:
- Symbium: The Computational Law Company. Michael Genesereth, Abhijeet Mohapatra, and Leila Banijamali.
- PROLEG: Practical Legal Reasoning System. Ken Satoh.
- Pacioli: a PROLOG system for financial report validation. Miguel Calejo and and Charles Hoffman.
18h00 – 18h15: Announcement of the Prize winner and Prize ceremony
- Prize selection process and words by winners Michael Leuschel and STUPS Group, for ProB.

18h15 – 18:20: Launching of the "Future of Prolog Initiative" Thomas Eiter, president of the ALP.
18h20 – 18h30: Closing
18h30 – 20h00: Cocktail