12.10. Summary
An engine is an object that performs a well-defined service against a collection of data. A database engine typically scans data in files stored in a proprietary format. A logic engine typically must be fed data in the form of facts, and it retrieves data by matching query structures against the facts. This matching, or unification, provides a basic ability to see whether two structures can match, potentially unifying variables and values in the structures. A logic engine also provides the ability to model rules, which are a sequence of structures in which the truth of the latter structures can confirm the truth of the first structure. In addition to these basic abilities, a well-rounded logic engine needs a provision for handling ...
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