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I am a professor of Computer and Information Science at Brooklyn College and Graduate Center of the City University of New York. I received a BS degree in Computer Science from Nanjing University, China, in 1984, and MS and PhD degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from Kyushu University, Japan, in 1988 and 1991, respectively. Before joining Brooklyn College, I was an associate professor at Kyushu Institute of Technology from 1991-1999. I had visiting positions at Yale University (1997), University of Alberta (1998), Tokyo Institute of Technology (2002), and Monash Univerisity/the University of Melbourne (2005). (See what ChatGPT says about me).

Program Committees and Events

• FLOPS'26, ICLP'25, ICLP'24, CP'23, ICLP'23, ICLP'22, CP'22, FLOPS'22, IJCAI'22, AAAI'22, ICLP'21, CP'21, IJCAI'21, AAAI'21, PADL'21, CP'20, ICLP'20, IJCAI'20, AAAI'20, CP'19, ICLP'19, IJCAI'19, AAAI'19, ICLP'18, RCRA'18, ICLP'17, IJCAI'17, AAAI'17, PADL'17, ICLP'16, IJCAI'16, FLOPS'16, PADL'16, AAAI'16, ICLP/CP'15, ECAI'14, ICLP'14, IJCAI'13, ICLP'12, PADL'12, ICLP'11, LPNMR'11, PADL'11 , ICTAI'10 , ICLP'10 , CICLOPS-WLPE 2010, ICLP'09 , CP'09, IJCAI'09, LPNMR'09, WLP'09,...
• Solver competitions (MiniZinc Challenge and XCSP)
• Picat's solutions to various problems
• ICLP Programming Contests 2009-2025)

Teaching

• CISC 3115 (Advanced Programming)
• CISC 3410 (AI)

Research

• Research Areas
  • Programming languages, especially constraint and logic programming languages
  • Compilers for high-level languages
  • Probabilistic learning from large amounts of data (PRISM)
  • NLP
  • Optimization and problem solving
  • Agent-based interactive systems
  • Graphics programming and graphical user interfaces

Software

• Picat
• B-Prolog
• CGLIB-A Constraint-based Graphics Library
• PRISM: A Statistical Modeling and Learning Language (at Tokyo Institute of Technology)
• DJ: Declarative Java (at Kyushu Institute of Technology)

Publications

Have a look at the list of publications on the DBLP server.

Manuscripts and slides

• Building a Fast CSP Solver Based on SAT, Tutorial at CP'19.
  
• Modeling and Solving AI Problems in Picat, Tutorial at AAAI'17 (R. Bartak and N.F. Zhou).
  
• Tabling for Planning (Modeling and Solving Planning Problems With Picat), Tutorial at ECAI'14, Prague, 2014.
  
• The SAT Compiler in B-Prolog, ALP Newsletter, March, 2013.
  
• BPSolver's Solutions to the Third ASP Competition Problems, ALP Newsletter, June, 2011.
  
• How to Solve it With B-Prolog, ALP Newsletter, September 2010.
  
• Declarative Loops and List Comprehensions for Prolog, Manuscript, Nov. 2009.
  
• What I Have Learned From All These Solver Competitions, Invited talk at WLP'09.
  
• Recent Developments in B-Prolog, Invited talk at CICLOPS'09.
  
• A Tutorial on B-Prolog, a short summer course at Kyutech, 2010.
  
• B-Prolog: An Overview, ALP Newsletter, May, 2007.
  
• A Report on the BPrologCSP Solver, 2007.
  
• AR (Action Rules): The Language, Implementation, and Applications, invited talk, CICLOPS'06.
  
• Implementation of Propagation Rules for Set Constraints Revisited, 2002 (N.F. Zhou and J. Schimpf)
  

Book

• Constraint Solving and Planning with Picat, Springer, 2015, ISBN:978-3-319-25881-2 (N.F. Zhou, H. Kjellerstrand, and J. Fruhman).

Journal and conferrence papers

1. Encoding the Hamiltonian Cycle Problem into SAT Based on Vertex Elimination, the 30th International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming, 2024. (N.F. Zhou)
   
   
2. A Comparison of SAT Encodings for Acyclicity of Directed Graphs, SAT'23. (N.F. Zhou, R. Want, and R. Yap)
   
   
3. Modeling and Solving Graph Synthesis Problems Using SAT-Encoded Reachability Constraints in Picat, ICLP, 2021.(N.F. Zhou)
   
   
4. In Pursuit of an Efficient SAT Encoding for the Hamiltonian Cycle Problem, the 26th International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming, 585-602, 2020 (N.F. Zhou)
   
   
5. Optimizing SAT Encodings for Arithmetic Constraints, the 23rd International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming, 671-686, 2017 (N.F. Zhou and H. Kjellerstrand)
   
   
6. Modeling and Solving the Multi-Agent Pathfinding Problem in Picat, ICTAI, 2017 (R. Bartak, N.F. Zhou, R. Stern, E. Boyarski, and P. Surynek)
   
   
7. Canonicalizing High-Level Constructs in Picat (Most Practical Paper Award),Nineteenth International Symposium on Practical Aspects of Declarative Languages, 19-33, 2017 (N.F. Zhou and J. Fruhman)
   
   
8. Multiple-Origin-Multiple-Destination Path Finding with Minimal Arc Usage: Complexity and Models, ICTAI'16, (R. Bartak, N.-F. Zhou, A. Dovier).
   
   
9. Compiling and Executing PDDL in Picat, CILC 2016, 132-147 (M. De Bortoli, R. Bartak, A. Dovier, N.-F. Zhou)
   
   
10. The Picat-SAT Compiler, Eighteenth International Symposium on Practical Aspects of Declarative Languages, 48-62, 2016 (N.F. Zhou and H. Kjellerstrand)
    
    
11. Planning as Tabled Logic Programming, Theory and Practice of Logic Programming, 2015 ( N.-F. Zhou, R. Bartak, and A. Dovier)
    
    
12. On modeling planning problems in tabled logic programming, Proceedings of the 17th International Symposium on Principles and Practice of Declarative Programming, Pages 31-42, 2015 (R. Bartak, A. Dovier, N.-F. Zhou)
    
    
13. Combinatorial Search With Picat, ICLP 2014, Invited talk (N.F. Zhou)
    
    
14. Using Tabled Logic Programming to Solve the Petrobras Planning Problem, Theory and Practice of Logic Programming 2014 (R. Bartak and N.F. Zhou)
    
    
15. A Tabled Prolog Program for Solving Sokoban, Fundamenta Informaticae, 2013 (N.F. Zhou and A. Dovier)
    
    
16. Efficient Tabling of Structured Data with Enhanced Hash-Consing, Theory and Practice of Logic Programming, 2012 (N.F. Zhou and C.T. Have)
    
    
17. The Language Features and Architecture of B-Prolog, Theory and Practice of Logic Programming, Special issue on Prolog systems, Vol. 12, nos.1-2, pp.189-218, 2012 (N.F. Zhou)
    
    
18. Toward a Dynamic Programming Solution for the 4-peg Tower of Hanoi Problem with Configurations, CICLOPS, 2012 (N.F. Zhou and J. Fruhman)
    
    
19. Compiling Answer Set Programs into Event-Driven Action Rules, LPNMR'11, (N.F. Zhou, Y.D. Shen, and J.H. You)
    
    
20. Mode-Directed Tabling for Dynamic Programming, Machine Learning, and Constraint Solving, ICTAI'10, (N.F. Zhou, Y. Kameya, and T. Sato)
    
    
21. Encoding Table Constraints in CLP(FD) Based on Pair-wise AC, ICLP'09, pp.402-416, 2009 (N.F. Zhou)
    
    
22. Linear Tabling Strategies and Optimizations, Theory and Practice of Logic Programming, Vol.8, No.1, pp.81-109, 2008 (N.F. Zhou, T. Sato, and Y.D. Shen)
    
    
23. A Register-free Abstract Prolog Machine with Jumbo Instructions ( ICLP'07 poster and CUNY TR), 2007 (N.F. Zhou)
    
    
24. Programming Finite-Domain Constraint Propagators in Action Rules, Theory and Practice of Logic Programming, Vol.6, No.5, pp.483-508, 2006 (N.F. Zhou)
    
    
25. Generative modeling with failure in PRISM, IJCAI'05, pp.847-852 (T. Sato, Y. Kameya, and N.F. Zhou)
    
    
26. Semi-naive Evaluation in Linear Tabling, ACM-SIGPLAN International Conference on Principles and Practice of Declarative Programming (PPDP-04), Verona, pp.90-97 (N.F. Zhou, Y. Shen, and T. Sato)
    
    
27. Yet More Efficient EM Learning for Parameterized Logic Programs through Intergoal Sharing, ECAI'2004, pp.490-494 (Y. Kameya, T. Sato, and N.F. Zhou)
    
    
28. A Constraint-based Graphics Library for B-Prolog, poster and demo presentation at CP'2004, pp.819-820 (N.F. Zhou)
    
    
29. Efficient Fixpoint Computation in Linear Tabling, ACM PPDP-03, pp.275-283, Uppsala (N.F. Zhou and T. Sato)
    
    
30. CGLIB - A Constraint-based Graphics Library
    Software - Practice and Experience, Vol.33, No.13, pp.1199-1216, 2003 (N.F. Zhou)
    
    
31. Toward a High-performance System for Symbolic and Statistical Modeling
    Proc. IJCAI Workshop on Learning Statistical Models from Relational Data, pp. 153-159, 2003 (N.F. Zhou, T. Sato, K. Hasida)
    
    
32. Implementing Constraint Solvers in B-Prolog
    IFIP World Congress, Intelligent Information Processing, pp.249-260, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002 (N.F. Zhou)
    
    
33. Action Rules for Programming Constraint Propagators and Interactive User Interfaces
    Tutorial given at INAP, extended abstract to appear in LNAI, 2002 (N.F. Zhou)
    
    
34. Authoring Graphics-rich and Interactive Documents in CGLIB - A Constraint-based Graphics Library
    Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on Document Engineering, pp.28-38, November, 2001 (N.F. Zhou)
    
    
35. A Linear Tabling Mechanism , The Journal of Functional and Logic Programming, 2001., Also appears in PADL'00, LNCS.1753, pp.109-123, 2000 (N.F. Zhou, Y.D. Shen, L. Yuan, and J. You)
    
    
36. Linear Tabulated Resolution based on Prolog Control Strategy, Theory and Practice of Logic Programming, Vol.1, No.1, pp.71-103, 2001 (Y.D. Shen, L.Y. Yuan, J.H. You, N.F. Zhou)
    
    
37. Garbage Collection in B-Prolog , Proc. of the First Workshop on Memory Management in Logic Programming Implementations, CL'2000, 2000 (N.F. Zhou)
    
    
38. Building Java Applets by Using DJ -- A Java-based Constraint Language, Proc. of the IEEE COMPSAC'99, 442-447, 1999 (N.F. Zhou)
    
    
39. A High-Level Intermediate Language and the Algorithms for Compiling Finite-Domain Constraints, Proc. Joint International Conference and Symposium on Logic Programming, pp.70-84, MIT Press, 1998 (N.F. Zhou)
    
    
40. Parameter Passing and Control Stack Management in Prolog Implementation Revisited, ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems, Vol.18, No.6, pp.752-779, November, 1996 (N.F. Zhou)
    
    
41. A Novel Implementation Method for Delay, Joint Internatinal Conference and Symposium on Logic Programming, pp.97-111, MIT Press, 1996 (N.F. Zhou)
    
    
42. Channel Routing with Constraint Logic Programming and Delay, The 9th International Conference on Industrial Applications of AI, pp.217-231, Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, 1996 (N.F. Zhou)
    
    
43. On Translating Prolog Programs into C (In Japanese), JIPS Transactions on Information Processing, Vol.37, No.6, pp.1130-1137, 1996 (K. Katamine, T. Hirota, N.F. Zhou, and Isao Nagasawa)
    
    
44. A Logic Programming Approach to Channel Routing
    Proc. 12th International Conference on Logic Programming, MIT Press,pp.217-231, 1995 (N.F. Zhou)
    
    
45. On the Scheme of Passing Arguments in Stack Frames for Prolog
    Proc. Eleventh International Conference on Logic Programming, MIT Press, pp.159-174, 1994 (N.F. Zhou)
    
    
46. An Efficient Finite-domain Constraint Solver in Beta-Prolog
    Journal of Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence, Vol.9, pp.275-282, 1994 (N.F. Zhou and I. Nagasawa)
    
    
47. Global Optimizations in a Prolog Compiler for the TOAM
    Journal of Logic Programming, pp.275-294, 1993 (N.F. Zhou)
    
    
48. Beta-Prolog: An Exted Prolog with Boolean Tables for Combinatorial Search
    Proc. 5th IEEE International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence, IEEE Computer Society, pp.312-319, November 1993 (N.F. Zhou)
    
    
49. Bidirectional Inference of Mode Information for Logic Programs
    Trans. IEICE Japan, Vol.J73-DI,No.2, 1990 (In Japanese), English version appears in ``Systems and Computers in Japan'', Vol.5, No.1, 1991 (N.F. Zhou: T. Takagi, and K.Ushijima)
    
    
50. A Matching Tree Oriented Abstract Machine for Prolog
    Proc. 7th International Conference on Logic Programming, MIT Press, pp.159-173, 1990 (N.F. Zhou: T. Takagi, and K.Ushijima)

Professional Memberships

• ACM
• The Association of Logic Programming
• AAAI
• IEEE Computer Society (former)
• Information Processing Society of Japan (former)
• Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence (former)
• Japan Society for Software Science and Technology (former)

Bookmarks

• Constraints
• Java: Language Specification , Tutorial , JavaWorld , FAQ
• Interface between Prolog and Java
• PandaNet, American Go Association
• Compilers FAQ
• Languages and Compilers

Useful Commands

• groff -T ascii file
• http://www.affilorama.com/free-tools/text-wrapper-tool
• prtscrn(95) -- save the screen into the buffer
• prtscrn(95) -- save the screen into the buffer
• alt-prtscrn(95) -- save a window into the buffer
• B-O -- Switch Debug and Release in Microsoft Developer Studio
• mount dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy (linux) -- mount floppy disk as a directory
• mount dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom (linux) -- mount cdrom as a directory
• latex2html -ascii_mode -toc_depth 2 -math -split 3

Hobbies

• Sports including tennis, table tennis, jogging, and swimming.
• Electronic piano, Karaoka
• Wiqi(GO) and Chinese chess
• SAKE

Contact me

 Department of Computer and Information Science
 Brooklyn College
 The City University of New York
 2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11210-2889
 nzhou@acm.org
 Tel. 1-718-951-5657