Friday, January 5, 2007

Logic

While I have the attention of a cast of mathematicians, I was wondering if I any one of you could recommend a good introductory book on formal logics? I've obviously studied the basic logical concepts in various fora before (discrete math, AI, programming semantics), and I now know enough to get myself very confused. I don't have a good resource for really understanding the different flavors of logic: constructive, modal, etc. (I know this is a bit off topic, but it isn't completely unrelated to the topic of languages.)

2 comments:

Aryeh said...

Not off-topic at all -- logic counts as math :)

Are you reading this, Noam?

Unknown said...

I don't know of a good survey-style book. There is the multi-volume Handbook of Philosophical Logic, but that's probably not what you're asking for.

For a very enjoyable introduction to constructive logic, proof theory, and linear logic, you can try Girard's Proofs and Types. The course notes to CMU's constructive logic course are also a good resource.

Or you could learn how to use one of the actual frameworks for writing formal proofs, such as Twelf or Coq.