Logic Programming Associates (LPA) is a company specializing in

logic programming Logic programming is a programming paradigm which is largely based on formal logic. Any program written in a logic programming language is a set of sentences in logical form, expressing facts and rules about some problem domain. Major logic pro ...

and

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...

software. LPA was founded in 1980 and is widely known for its range of

Prolog Prolog is a logic programming language associated with artificial intelligence and computational linguistics. Prolog has its roots in first-order logic, a formal logic, and unlike many other programming languages, Prolog is intended primarily ...

compilers and more recently for VisiRule. LPA was established to exploit research at the Department of Computing and Control at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

into

carried out under the supervision of Prof Robert Kowalski. One of the first implementations made available by LPA was micro-PROLOG which ran on popular 8-bit home computers such as the

Sinclair Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colour ...

and Apple II. This was followed by micro-PROLOG Professional one of the first Prolog implementations for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

. As well as continuing with Prolog compiler technology development, LPA has a track record of creating innovative associated tools and products to address specific challenges and opportunities.

History

In 1989, LPA developed the Flex expert system toolkit, which incorporated frame-based reasoning with inheritance,

rule-based programming Logic programming is a programming paradigm which is largely based on formal logic. Any program written in a logic programming language is a set of sentences in logical form, expressing facts and rules about some problem domain. Major logic prog ...

and data-driven procedures. Flex has its own English-like Knowledge Specification Language (KSL) which means that knowledge and rules are defined in an easy-to-read and understand way. In 1992, LPA helped set up the Prolog Vendors Group, a not-for-profit organization whose aim was to help promote Prolog by making people aware of its usage in industry. In 2000, LPA helped set up Business Integrity Ltd, to bring to market document assembly technology. This lead the creation of Contract Express which became sold to most major law firms. In 2015, Thomson Reuters acquired Business Integrity Ltd. LPA's core product i
LPA Prolog for Windows
, a compiler and development system for the Microsoft Windows platform. The current LPA software range comprises an integrated AI toolset which covers various aspects of

Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...

including Logic Programming,

Expert Systems In artificial intelligence, an expert system is a computer system emulating the decision-making ability of a human expert. Expert systems are designed to solve complex problems by reasoning through bodies of knowledge, represented mainly as if� ...

Knowledge-based Systems A knowledge-based system (KBS) is a computer program that reasons and uses a knowledge base to solve complex problems. The term is broad and refers to many different kinds of systems. The one common theme that unites all knowledge based systems i ...

, Data Mining, Agents and

Case-based reasoning In artificial intelligence and philosophy, case-based reasoning (CBR), broadly construed, is the process of solving new problems based on the solutions of similar past problems. In everyday life, an auto mechanic who fixes an engine by recallin ...

etc. In 2004, LPA launched VisiRule a graphical tool for developing knowledge-based and decision support systems. VisiRule has been used in various sectors, to build legal expert systems, machine diagnostic programs, medical and financial advice systems, etc.

Customers

For many years, LPA has worked closely with Valdis Krebs, an American-Latvian researcher, author, and consultant in the field of social and organizational network analysis. Valdis is the founder and chief scientist of Orgnet, and the creator of the popular Inflow InFlow
/ref> software package.

References

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External links

About LPA
* Micro-PROLOG (in Spanish)
Aspects of PROLOG HistoryVisiRule demosVisiRule: a new graphical business rules tool from LPAA flex-based expert system for sewage treatment works supportESSE: An Expert System for Software EvaluationLPA Delivers A Range Of Software Development Tools For Both Programmers And Non-Programmers
Software companies of the United Kingdom Expert systems Knowledge engineering Knowledge representation Department of Computing, Imperial College London