max element of list in prolog

Maybe I should post at Tech board?

I want to find the max element of a list, in Prolog.

Here is my code (see comments)

Code:

maxList([], M).
maxList([X|L], M):-
	M is X,
		maxList2(L, M).
maxList2([], M):-writeln(M). /* HERE I HAVE THE CORRECT RESULT! */
/* But the output is going to remain set at the 1st element of the
 list, no matter what! */
maxList2([X|L], M):-
	X > M,
		M1 is X,
			maxList2(L, M1).
maxList2([X|L], M):-
	X =< M,
		maxList2(L, M).

Any ideas ?

I started from scratch and finally I came up with this code

Code:

maxOfTwo(X, Y, X) :-
	X >= Y.
maxOfTwo(X, Y, Y) :-
	X < Y.

maxL([X], X).
maxL([H | T], X) :-
	maxL(T, I),
		maxOfTwo(H, I, X).

I think your second version is pretty good. It's been a while since I wrote any Prolog though.

The first was not ok. When backtracking, the result could not be maintained. I finished with the program way before the deadline, so I wrote another predicate (an iterative method - the max is actually the maxOfTwo I have above) for finding max element of a list in prolog. Here it is:

Code:

maxlist1([X | List], Max):-
      maxlist2(List, X, Max).
maxlist2([], Max, Max).
maxlist2([X | List], SoFarMax, Max):-
      max(X, soFarMax, NewSoFarMax),
            maxlist2(List, NewSoFarMax, Max).

/***** and the max, instead of the maxOfTwo I have above,
could be written like an if-else statement, with the cut we learned
at this course ********/
max(X, Y, X):- X >= Y, !.
max(X, Y, Y).

Where did you have to write prolog brewbuck? I mean where prolog was helpful for you?

Originally Posted by std10093

Where did you have to write prolog brewbuck? I mean where prolog was helpful for you?

I used it in a couple of applications as a sort of "reverse parser" to generate all strings produced by a given grammar. It's been a while!

Pretty interesting...