Artificial Intelligence Through Search

This textbook on artificial intelligence uses the unifying thread of search to bring together most of the major techniques used in symbolic artificial intelligence. The authors, aware of the pitfalls of being too general or too academic, have taken a practical approach in that they include program code to illustrate their ideas. Furthermore, code is offered in both POP-11 and Prolog, thereby giving a dual perspective, highlighting the merits of these languages. Each chapter covers one technique and divides up into three sections: a section which introduces the technique (and its usual applications) and suggests how it can be understood as a variant/generalization of search; a section which developed a "low"-level (POP-11) implementation; and a section which developes a high-level (Prolog) implementation of the technique. The authors also include useful notes on alternative treatments to the material, further reading and exercises. As a practical book it should be welcomed by a wide audience including those already experienced in AI, students with some backgrounds in programming who are taking an introductory course in AI, and lecturers looking for a practical textbook to use in their AI courses.