The Art of Prolog
The Art of Prolog by Sterling and Shapiroby Sterling and Shapiro
Shares rank 15 of 28 computer science textbooks by recommenders
Recommended as a direct route into Prolog and as the reference text; one critic found the early chapters hard going.
Recommended as a direct route into Prolog and as the reference text; one critic found the early chapters hard going.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 4
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 80%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 4 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Direct entry point to Prolog
“Alternatively hop straight into Prolog (Art of Prolog, Craft of Prolog)”
Comment from 30 Jul 2026 in “Logic for Programmers by Hillel Wayne” Seen as the reference text
“I would go with the reference”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Stop Designing Languages. Write Libraries Instead (2016)”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Early chapters hard to get through
“I struggled to get past the first few chapters of Art of Prolog”
Comment from 30 Jul 2026 in “Logic for Programmers by Hillel Wayne”
Other computer science textbooks people recommend
The four most recommended other computer science textbooks, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programsby Abelson and Sussman | 55 | 5 | 92% | 12 | — | Approved |
| The Art of Computer Programmingby Donald E. Knuth | 28 | 6 | 82% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programsby Abelson and Sussman | 12 | 0 | 100% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Quantum Computation and Quantum Informationby Nielsen and Chuang | 12 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| The Art of Prologby Sterling and ShapiroThis page | 4 | 1 | 80% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
3 of the 5 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I struggled to get past the first few chapters of Art of Prolog”
“Alternatively hop straight into Prolog (Art of Prolog, Craft of Prolog)”
“I would go with the reference”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.