Prolog, Erlang, Mozart

From: Simon Gadbois (sgadbois_at_dal.ca)
Date: 12/11/03

  • Next message: Nick Wedd: "Re: Problem with '>='" 
    Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 12:35:46 -0400

    Hi all,
    Another basic question... I've been searching the web for a long time
    now, trying to answer those questions by myself...

    As an ethologist (interested in modelization of animal behaviour,
    especially action sequences), I started to get familiar with Prolog in
    1990 or so, abandoned it, and recently came back to it (forgot much,
    unfortunately).
    Some of you are mentioning alternatives to Prolog, e,g, Erlang, OZ/Mozart.
    Independently of the fact that I am somewhat limited to OSX/X11, should
    I be exploring other options? I am not a programmer or even an AI
    specialist, but I am wondering if my time re-acquainting myself to
    PROLOG should not be invested towards a more powerful, maybe easier
    language.
    Let me explain the context:

    2 main things seem to be crucial in what I do (you will see that Neural
    Networks seem to be useful in some cases, and I actually explored that
    avenue in the past)

    1. Action sequences: Ethologists describe behaviour in time and space
    in excrutiating details; we are very interested in subtle behaviour
    patterns in the simplest, fastest movements. Identifying patterns of
    movements and actions is crucial to our work.

    2. Taxonomies: we work constantly with behavioural taxonomies, i.e.,
    detailed categories of behaviours (ethograms).

    I am trying to develop a number of applications that will guide the
    ethologist in 2 domains:

    1. identification of behavioural (sequential) patterns
    2. categorization and re-categorization of behaviours in optimal
    taxonomies (based on shared characteristics, similarities of postures,
    movements, functions, etc.)

    Let me know if this is enough to suggest a new AI tool,

    Thank you,

    S. Gadbois

  • Next message: Nick Wedd: "Re: Problem with '>='"