Claim · 1988-01 · publication · Stated in source · Supported

Kowalski (1988) writes that the name Prolog was originally intended for the programming language developed by Alain Colmerauer and Philippe Roussel in the summer of 1972.

One recorded claim. The claim panel gives its qualification, the source passages with their place in each source, and how it was checked.

What it connects

The Early Years of Logic Programming → explicitly credits → Alain Colmerauer

Where it appears

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Claim and evidence

The Early Years of Logic Programmingexplicitly credits ↓Alain Colmerauer

Machine-checked, not reviewed by an editorStated in sourceSupported

Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source

Date: 1988-01 · publication Records dated 1988 →

Scope and limitsAttributed statement; the credit extends equally to Philippe Roussel in the same sentence. Colmerauer and Roussel (1992) distinguish a preliminary version at the end of 1971 from a more definitive one at the end of 1972; Kowalski’s “summer of 1972” need not conflict with either stage. Not adjudicated.

The evidence 01

primary sourceSupports the claim

The Early Years of Logic Programming

Communications of the ACM; PDF on the author's site · 1988-01

Cite the original source

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Source excerpt

“It was originally intended as the name for the programming language developed by Alain Colmerauer and Phillipe Roussel in the summer of 1972.”

Location in source PDF p. 1, column 1

How it was read Retrieved directly from the publisher

Machine-checked · 2026-10-31

Source details and check notes

Authors: Robert A. Kowalski
Version: Retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-29 (SHA-256 776f9eec80748ad8896cbddc3eb574fba33ca484602369c4c1ee4302b9d0df33). Scan of the CACM printing with a text layer, on the author's site
Canonical address: Open the canonical source ↗
Accessed: 2026-10-29
Language: English (en)
Attribution: Robert A. Kowalski, “The Early Years of Logic Programming”, 1988-01.
Reuse: No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution.
Check notes: Candidate pack passage, Kinds of AI and technical history (research/technical-history). The quotation (23 words) matched the text retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-29. Matching ignored differences of whitespace, case, quotation marks, dashes, PDF line-break hyphens and Unicode compatibility forms, so the source’s typography can differ. A cross-family machine check (31 October 2026, item 99) re-read the record’s sources and found that they support what the record states. Its point that development stages are not framed as contradictory was applied at admission. No human editorial review.

Status and meaning

Editorial status. Not reviewed by an editor. An exploratory record that no editor has accepted. This status does not say whether a person has read any linked passage. Each evidence record above shows how it was checked.

Relation. A document expressly attributes intellectual or practical contribution to a named actor, with the scope retained in the claim.

Date. Date of publication, as the source gives it.

Record ID th-lp-credit-kowalski-1988-colmerauer