Report Number: CS-TR-82-903
Institution: Stanford University, Department of Computer Science
Title: Coloring maps and the Kowalski doctrine
Author: McCarthy, John
Date: April 1982
Abstract: It is attractive to regard an algorithm as composed of the logic determining what the results are and the control determining how the result is obtained. Logic programmers like to regard programming as controlled deduction, and there have been several proposals for controlling the deduction expressed by a Prolog program and not always using Prolog's normal backtracking algorithm. The present note discusses a map coloring program proposed by Pereira and Porto and two coloring algorithms that can be regarded as control applied to its logic. However, the control mechanisms required go far beyond those that have been contemplated in the Prolog literature.
http://i.stanford.edu/pub/cstr/reports/cs/tr/82/903/CS-TR-82-903.pdf