Computational logic is the use of

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premis ...

to perform or reason about

computation Computation is any type of arithmetic or non-arithmetic calculation that follows a well-defined model (e.g., an algorithm). Mechanical or electronic devices (or, historically, people) that perform computations are known as '' computers''. An esp ...

. It bears a similar relationship to

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includin ...

and engineering as

mathematical logic Mathematical logic is the study of formal logic within mathematics. Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory. Research in mathematical logic commonly addresses the mathematical properties of formal ...

bears to mathematics and as

philosophical logic Understood in a narrow sense, philosophical logic is the area of logic that studies the application of logical methods to philosophical problems, often in the form of extended logical systems like modal logic. Some theorists conceive philosophical ...

bears to philosophy. It is synonymous with "

logic in computer science Logic in computer science covers the overlap between the field of logic and that of computer science. The topic can essentially be divided into three main areas: * Theoretical foundations and analysis * Use of computer technology to aid logician ...

". The term “computational logic” came to prominence with the founding of the ACM Transactions on Computational Logic in 2000. However, the term was introduced much earlier, by J.A. Robinson in 1970. The expression is used in the second paragraph with a footnote claiming that "computational logic" is ''"surely a better phrase than 'theorem proving', for the branch of artificial intelligence which deals with how to make machines do deduction efficiently"''. In 1972 the Metamathematics Unit at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

was renamed “The Department of Computational Logic” in the School of Artificial Intelligence.http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/bundy/ Professor Alan Bundy's website The term was then used by Robert S. Boyer and

J Strother Moore J Strother Moore (his first name is the alphabetic character "J" – not an abbreviated "J.") is a computer scientist. He is a co-developer of the Boyer–Moore string-search algorithm, Boyer–Moore majority vote algorithm, and the Boyer–Moor ...

, who worked in the Department in the early 1970s, to describe their work on program verification and

automated reasoning In computer science, in particular in knowledge representation and reasoning and metalogic, the area of automated reasoning is dedicated to understanding different aspects of reasoning. The study of automated reasoning helps produce computer progr ...

. They also founded Computational Logic Inc. Computational logic has also come to be associated with

logic programming Logic programming is a programming paradigm which is largely based on formal logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of log ...

, because much of the early work in logic programming in the early 1970s also took place in the Department of Computational Logic in Edinburgh. It was reused in the early 1990s to describe work on extensions of logic programming in the EU Basic Research Project "Compulog" and in the associated Network of Excellence. Krzysztof Apt, who was the co-ordinator of the Basic Research Project Compulog-II, reused and generalized the term when he founded the ACM Transactions on Computational Logic in 2000 and became its first Editor-in-Chief.

See also

References

Further reading