Max out of values defined by prolog clauses

Question

I know how to iterate over lists in Prolog to find the maximum, but what if each thing is a separate clause? For example if I had a bunch of felines and their ages, how woul

Answer 1

Here is a solution that loops through all the solutions, always recording the solution that is better than the previous best. In the end, the best solution is returned.

The recording is done using assert/1, you could also use a non-backtrackable global variable if your Prolog provides that (SWI-Prolog does).

The benefit of this approach is that is considers each solution only once, i.e. complexity O(n). So, even though it looks uglier than starblue's solution, it should run better.

% Data
cat(sassy, 5).
cat(misty, 3).
cat(miisu, 10).
cat(princess, 2).

% Interface
oldest_cat(Name) :-
    loop_through_cats,
    fetch_oldest_cat(Name).

loop_through_cats :-
    cat(Name, Age),
    record_cat_age(Name, Age),
    fail ; true.


:- dynamic current_oldest_cat/2.

record_cat_age(Name, Age) :-
    current_oldest_cat(_, CAge),
    !,
    Age > CAge,
    retract(current_oldest_cat(_, _)),
    assert(current_oldest_cat(Name, Age)).

record_cat_age(Name, Age) :-
    assert(current_oldest_cat(Name, Age)).


fetch_oldest_cat(Name) :-
    retract(current_oldest_cat(Name, _Age)).

Usage example:

?- oldest_cat(Name).

Name = miisu

Miisu is a typical Estonian cat name. ;)