Why Learning Prolog Can Make You a Better Programmer

In Computer Science programs, there is a tradition of having a course of two that represent the watershed between people that can grok CS concepts and the ones that can’t. Although anyone can do some programming in a language like Java, where anecdotal evidence seems to show that the most complicated concept is class, it…

A First View of Microsoft Solver Foundation

In the last few days, I started playing with the new framework for optimization (i.e., business decision making) by Microsoft. It is called Microsoft Solver Foundation, and encompasses a number of technologies that make the connection between traditional optimization and mathematical programming and business-oriented tools, such as databases and spreadsheets. The premise of MSF is…

New Features of C# 4.0

C# was created by Microsoft to become the main language of their .NET framework. It is a simple language, following the tradition of Java in many aspects, but it has a particular feel that makes it really cool to use. Moreover, although it was created by Microsoft, C# can now be used successfully in other…