# The Art of Prolog by Sterling and Shapiro

4 Hacker News commenters recommended The Art of Prolog by Sterling and Shapiro and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a direct route into Prolog and as the reference text; one critic found the early chapters hard going.

## Why people recommend it

- Direct entry point to Prolog (1 comments): "Alternatively hop straight into Prolog (Art of Prolog, Craft of Prolog)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49106900))
- Seen as the reference text (1 comments): "I would go with the reference" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46540092))

## What people warn about

- Early chapters hard to get through (1 comments): "I struggled to get past the first few chapters of Art of Prolog" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49109750))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Abelson and Sussman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/structure-and-interpretation-of-computer-programs.md): 55 recommend
- [The Art of Computer Programming by Donald E. Knuth](https://hackerapproved.com/p/art-of-computer-programming.md): 28 recommend
- [Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Abelson and Sussman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sicp.md): 12 recommend
- [Quantum Computation and Quantum Information by Nielsen and Chuang](https://hackerapproved.com/p/quantum-computation-and-quantum-information.md): 12 recommend
- [Digital Design and Computer Architecture by Harris and Harris](https://hackerapproved.com/p/digital-design-and-computer-architecture.md): 8 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0262691639?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780262691635) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Art of Prolog by Sterling and Shapiro", https://hackerapproved.com/p/art-of-prolog/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).