Can Logic Programming Be Liberated from Predicates and Backtracking? - Lightning Talk

Explore a lightning talk from the 27th International Symposium on Practical Aspects of Declarative Languages that challenges fundamental aspects of logic programming. Michael Hanus from Kiel University questions whether logic programming can move beyond its 50-year reliance on predicates and backtracking search strategies. Discover how transforming predicates into functions with demand-driven evaluation strategies could reduce computation steps and avoid infinite search spaces, while complete search strategies could bridge the gap between theory and practice. The presentation references implementation tools available as a Curry package, docker image, and web interface with examples, building on research that transforms non-determinism to goroutines and improves logic programs by adding functional elements.