On Tue, 8 Jul 2008 16:59:00 +1000, "David Overton"
Also, see my recent attempts at (constraint) logic programming in Haskell: http://overtond.blogspot.com/2008/07/pre.html http://overtond.blogspot.com/2008/07/haskell-sudoku-solver-using-finite.html
Whoops! Sorry, I rushed to reply with my earlier message, and forgot to respond to this part of your post. Your blog posts about a Haskell Sudoku solver remind me of similar blog posts about Sudoku solvers in Python (see "Solving Every Sudoku Puzzle": http://norvig.com/sudoku.html) and Scheme (see "Schemely: Sudoku Solver1": http://www.bobmc.net/cgi-bin/Schemely.pl/Sudoku_Solver1, and "Schemely Blog: Scheme Sudoku Solver": http://schemely.blogspot.com/2006/02/scheme-sudoku-solver.html). Some programmers learn new languages by translating code for Sudoku solvers from one language that they already know well to another language that they are trying to learn. Because solving a Sudoku puzzle can be accomplished more easily by using constraint propagation, in which placing a constraint on one square can cause further constraints to be placed on other squares, this definition lends itself to constraint programming. Since constraint programming is a form of declarative programming, this form of programming lends itself to constraint logic programming. As an example, GNU Prolog has a constraint logic programming interpreter; however, GNU Prolog lacks strong typing. If you are interested in constraint programming, you may wish to investigate the multi-paradigm programming language Oz (see http://www.mozart-oz.org/), which can implement constraints in a functional programming language. The language lacks multiprocessor support, but supports declarative programming, object-oriented programming, constraint programming, and concurrency as part of a coherent whole. -- Benjamin L. Russell