Abstract

Linear logic has been applied to a wide variety of tasks in computer science, including database updates, natural language processing, concurrency and intelligent decision problems. The development of logic programming languages based on linear logic has been an important step in this process, with a number of such languages being designed, including Lolli, LO, Lygon, LinLog, LC and Forum. In this talk we will give an overview of the development of such languages, and discuss some issues which arise in the design of such languages. We will also describe some results we have about search strategies in such languages, and discuss some work in progress on the integration of top-down strategies with bottom-up (or reactive) ones. Whilst most of our examples are drawn from linear logic, we believe that most of our techniques are applicable to other resource-sensitive logics such as affine logic, light linear logic and BI.