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Glossary of Terms
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| adjoin | A LISP function that adds an element to a set if it is not already there. |
| atom | The most basic building block of LISP consisting of a string of characters beginning with a letter, digit, or any special character other than a left or right parenthesis. Examples could be "happy", "red", "Two", "2", "3.14", and so on. |
| car | LISP function that returns the first element of a list where the list cannot be the null-list. |
| cdr | LISP function that returns all elements but the first element of the list. |
| cons | LISP function that takes two arguements, an S-Expression and a list, and creates a new list with the first element in the new list being the first arguement. |
| head | First element of a list. |
| intersection | A LISP function that takes two sets and returns a set containing only the elements that were in both of the initial sets. |
| list | A collection of S-Expressions, called elements, enclosed in by parenthese. Examples could be "(a b c)", "(1, 2, 3)", "(happy, red, Two, 2, 3.14)". |
| member | A LISP function that determines if an element is a member of a set. If it is a member of the set then it returns the tail of the list beginning with the first element that matches. If it is not a member of the set then a nil list is returned. |
| null | A special example of an S-Expression that is both an atom and a list. Example "()". |
| Recursion | The ability of a program to call itself which also enables a program to define itself in terms of itself. This is frequently used to control the programs execution. |
| sets | A collection of elements. |
| S-Expressions | An atom, list, or collection of S-Expressions surrounded by parentheses. |
| tail | A list consisting of all elements of a list except the head or first element. |
| union | A LISP function that takes two sets and returns a set containing all of the elements that were in either of the original sets with no duplications. |
| For More Info on the Lisp Programming Language |
| Backtracking | Occurs when a backward chaining process fails after a choice point. The system returns to mthe choice point and continues to test clauses. |
| Backward Chaining | The process used to prove goals by comparing the goals to the facts or rules. |
| Choice Point | A place where a particular clause is chosen. |
| Clause | A collective term for facts and rules. |
| Logic Programming | A programming style based on first-order logic. The system attempts to prove goals. |
| Prolog | The original logic programming language. |
| For More Info on Logic Programming |
| Logo Programming Language | A computer language designed to help people learn. It teaches problem solving and logical thinking. It is a dialect of LISP. |
| Turtle | Originally was a robot controlled by the logo programming language. It eventually moved into a graphical representation on a computer screen upon which it could still be given directions. |
| For More Info on the Logo Programming Language |
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