PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

David H. D. Warren

Warren is a computer scientist who wrote the first compiler for Prolog and devised the Warren Abstract Machine. At the University of Edinburgh, he completed a PhD in artificial intelligence in 1977; his thesis explained logic programming and Prolog and described a compiler that generated DECsystem-10 assembly. His 1980 survey on definite clause grammars compared the formalism with augmented transition networks, and he designed the Warren Abstract Machine at SRI in 1983. He cofounded Quintus Computer Systems in 1984 to sell a high-performance Prolog system; Intergraph acquired the company in 1989. By 1998, he held an academic position in the University of Bristol's Department of Computer Science and coauthored work on calibrated emulation for parallel architectures.

Works
89
Citations
3,819
h-index
25
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1977

    An AI PhD at Edinburgh

    He completes a PhD in artificial intelligence at the University of Edinburgh in 1977 under Robert Kowalski and Donald Michie. His thesis explains logic programming and Prolog and describes a compiler that generates DECsystem-10 assembly.

  2. 1980

    Definite clause grammars

    In 1980, he publishes a survey of definite clause grammars for language analysis that compares the formalism with augmented transition networks.

  3. 1983

    The Warren Abstract Machine

    At SRI, he devises an abstract machine for Prolog in 1983: a memory architecture and instruction set that clarify how to implement a high-performance Prolog system. It becomes known as the Warren Abstract Machine.

  4. 1984

    Co-founding Quintus Systems

    He co-founds Quintus Computer Systems in February 1984 with William Kornfeld, Lawrence Byrd, Fernando Pereira and Cuthbert Hurd to sell a high-performance Prolog system based on the Warren Abstract Machine.

  5. 1989

    Quintus joins Intergraph

    Quintus, the Prolog company he co-founds, is acquired by Intergraph in October 1989.

  6. 1991

    A parallel Prolog system

    In 1991, he coauthors Andorra I, a parallel Prolog system that transparently exploits both and- and or-parallelism.

  7. 1998

    Academic work at Bristol

    In 1998, he works in the University of Bristol's Department of Computer Science and coauthors a study of calibrated emulation for evaluating parallel architectures.

Career

  1. 1998University of Bristol
  2. From 1984Quintus Computer SystemsCo-founder
  3. 1983–1984SRI International

Education

  1. 1977University of EdinburghPhD

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Definite clause grammars for language analysis—A survey of the formalism and a comparison with augmented transition networks1980 · Artificial Intelligence · 978 citationsWith Fernando C. N. Pereira
  2. Parsing as deduction1983 · Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) · 297 citationsWith Fernando C. N. Pereira
  3. An efficient easily adaptable system for interpreting natural language queries1982 · 279 citationsWith Fernando C. N. Pereira
  4. The Aurora or-parallel Prolog system1990 · New Generation Computing · 268 citations
  5. Prolog - the language and its implementation compared with Lisp1977 · 245 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

  1. 14% of AI doctorate holders from 2010 to 2016 founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduationIncludes David H. D. Warren. We estimate how often AI doctorate holders founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after their doctorate, and how the timing changed across cohorts.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Edinburgh. Our estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.
  3. Stanford University trained or employed 20 of the 89 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of Edinburgh. Stanford University trained or employed 20 of the 89 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and employment links for major-prize and best-paper winners.
  4. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes University of Edinburgh. Our estimates of combined and median h-index at AI organizations, using current affiliations and OpenAlex records.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Applied logic: its use and implementation as a programming tool era.ed.ac.uk. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. David H. D. Warren en.wikipedia.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. Fifty Years of Prolog and Beyond | Theory and Practice of Logic Programming | Cambridge Core cambridge.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. Prolog and Logic Programming Historical Sources Archive softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. Parallel Calibrated emulation as a technique for evaluating parallel architectures research-information.bris.ac.uk. Checked 19 October 2026.