What programming language should be used to develop artificial intelligence?

Mindsync
mindsync.ai
Published in
4 min readSep 26, 2019

The process of creating artificial intelligence seems rather complicated at first sight. Observing these beautiful examples of AI, you can understand that you can create interesting programs with AI. Depending on the purpose, different levels of knowledge are needed. Some projects require deep knowledge of AI, others require only knowledge of the programming language but the main question the programmer has to face. What language to choose for programming artificial intelligence? Here is a list of languages for AI that can be useful.

LISP

The first computer language used to create artificial intelligence is LISP. This language is quite flexible and extensible. Features such as rapid prototyping and macros are very useful in creating AI. LISP is a language that makes complex tasks simple. A powerful object-oriented system makes LISP one of the most popular programming languages for artificial intelligence.

Java

The main advantages of this multifunctional language are: transparency, portability and ease of use. Another advantage of the Java language is its versatility. If you’re new to Java, you’ll be pleased to know that there are hundreds of online video lessons to make your learning easier and more efficient.

The main features of java are: easy debugging, good interaction with the user, ease of work with large projects. Projects created with the help of Java language have an attractive and simple interface.

Prolog

This interactive symbolic programming language is popular for projects that require logic. With a powerful and flexible framework, it is widely used for non-numerical programming, theorem proofing, natural language processing, expert system creation and artificial intelligence in general.

Prologue is a declarative language with formal logic. Developers of artificial intelligence appreciate it for its high level of abstraction, built-in search mechanism, nondeterminism, etc.

Python

Python is widely used by programmers because of its pure grammar and syntax, pleasant design. Different data structures, a bunch of testing frameworks, the ratio of high level to low level programming, which make Python one of the most popular programming languages for artificial intelligence.

History of AI development

To see the connection between AI and the programming language, let’s look at the most important events in the history of AI. It all started in 1939, when the robot Electro was presented at the World’s Fair. The next robot was built in 1951 by Edmund Berkeley.

The robot Robbie was built in 1956. Unfortunately, there is no information on how it was designed. In 1958, the LISP programming language was invented. Although this language was developed 60 years ago, it is still the main language for many artificial intelligence programs.

In 1961, it was built by UNIMATE. It is the first industrial robot to be produced in series. This robot was used in General Motors to work on the production line. For the production of UNIMATE, scientists used the Val, a variable assembler. This language consists of simple phrases, monitor commands, and instructions that require no explanation.

The Dendral artificial intelligence system was built in 1965. It helped to easily determine the molecular structure of organic compounds. This system was written in Lispa.

In 1966, Weizenbaum created Eliza, the first virtual conversation partner. One of the most famous models was the Doctor, who answered questions in the style of a psychotherapist. This bot was realized by comparing samples of technology. Elisa’s first version was written in SLIP, and the language list was developed by Weizenbaum. Later, one of its versions was rewritten in Lispa.

The first mobile robot programmed in Lispa was Sheki. With the help of the gasket and sensor program, the necks moved, turned on and off the lights, went up and down, opened the doors, closed the doors, pushed objects, and moved things. Sheki moved at a speed of 5 km per hour.

In the next 15 years, the world saw many amazing inventions: Denning’s Watchdog Robot, LMI Lambda, Omnibot 2000, MQ-1 Predator Unmanned, Ferby, AIBO Robot Dog, and Honda ASYMO.

In 2003, iRobot invented the Roomba robot vacuum cleaner. Developed in Lispa, it is a stand-alone vacuum cleaner that washes floors using specific algorithms. It detects obstacles and bypasses them.

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