In reality there are only 2 languages:
- Machine language
- Human language.
All other languages in between are merely translators and nothing more. When we use the machine language we must think like the machine and when using human languages we think like humans.
The true job of a programmer is to think both ways. Some programming tools like the assembler force the programmer to spend a lot more time thinking like the machine. Other tools like Prolog allows us to spend more time thinking like a human.
There is a penalty to be paid at each extreme either in performance or in cost.
If the business logic of your application can be reduced to a set of rules and its output to a set of goals (for example writing a game of Chess) then Prolog is ideal. On the other hand if you need to take the input and tell the computer how to compute the output then a functional language would be more appropriate.
