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- From: jamie@cs.sfu.ca (Jamie Andrews)
- Newsgroups: comp.lang.prolog,news.answers,comp.answers
- Subject: comp.lang.prolog Frequently Asked Questions
- Supersedes: <prolog/faq-1-875696403@cs.sfu.ca>
- Followup-To: comp.lang.prolog
- Date: 16 Oct 1997 09:00:09 -0000
- Organization: Logic Programming Lab, Computer Science, Simon Fraser University
- Lines: 433
- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu
- Distribution: world
- Expires: 11/03/97
- Message-ID: <prolog/faq-1-876992408@cs.sfu.ca>
- Reply-To: jamie@cs.sfu.ca (Jamie Andrews)
- NNTP-Posting-Host: ceres.cs.sfu.ca
- Summary: Information about free Prolog implementations; contact names for commercial systems; controversial topics.
- Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu comp.lang.prolog:18359 news.answers:114616 comp.answers:28547
-
- Posted-By: auto-faq script
- Archive-name: prolog/faq
-
- Original-by: jamie@cs.sfu.ca (Jamie Andrews)
- Version: 1.22
- Last-modified: 2/28/97 by jamie@cs.sfu.ca (Jamie Andrews)
-
- This article contains the answers to some Frequently Asked
- Questions (FAQ) often seen in comp.lang.prolog. It is posted
- (twice a month, currently on the 1st and 16th) to help reduce
- volume in this newsgroup and to provide hard-to-find information
- of general interest.
-
- The World Wide Web URL for this FAQ is:
- http://fas.sfu.ca/0/cs/people/ResearchStaff/jamie/personal/prolog-faq.1
-
- This article includes answers to the following questions.
-
- 0. General information
- 1. What is the Association for Logic Programming?
- 2. Where can I get a public-domain, free Prolog for (the IBM PC,
- the Mac, Unix)?
- 3. What commercial systems are available? What about systems
- available for a price from research institutions?
- 4. How do I get in touch with my Prolog's users' group,
- sales representative, or technical support line?
- 5. I think language X is better than Prolog. What do you think?
- 6. My Prolog prof assigned me this problem. Can you help
- me with it?
- 7. Can you suggest some books on Prolog?
- 8. Are there any FTP archive sites for comp.lang.prolog?
- 9. How can I get a copy of the draft ISO Prolog standard?
- Where can I go for more information about it?
- 10. How does the WAM (Warren Abstract Machine) work? How do I
- write a WAM-based compiler or a WAM emulator?
- 11. Is there a WWW (World Wide Web) page on logic programming?
-
- Please forward suggestions for further questions and
- answers to the current FAQ maintainer, jamie@cs.sfu.ca (Jamie
- Andrews).
-
- Changes in this version:
- * Added reference to Bratko book.
- * Updated reference to Prolog Management Group.
- * Deleted reference to obsolete Prologs at Univ. of Georgia.
- * Put public-domain Prolog entries in alphabetical order.
- * Reworded public-domain Prologs introduction slightly.
- * Updated Quintus Prolog entry.
- * Updated ProLog by BIM entry.
-
- * * *
-
- 0. General information
-
- The newsgroup "comp.lang.prolog" discusses the language
- Prolog and other "logic programming" languages. Logic
- programming languages, in general, are programming languages
- which incorporate some of the language of mathematical logic;
- unification and backtracking search are common operational
- features. For more background information about Prolog, see the
- list of books in Question 7 of this list.
-
- To cut down on unnecessary postings to comp.lang.prolog,
- whenever I see a question there that is answered by the FAQ
- list, I (Jamie) try to respond to the questioner by e-mail,
- quoting the relevant section of this list.
-
- * * *
-
- 1. What is the Association for Logic Programming?
-
- To keep up with the current state of logic programming
- technology, readers can join the Association for Logic
- Programming (ALP) and receive their Newsletter. For details on
- how to join, contact:
-
- Cheryl Anderson,
- ALP Administrative Secretary,
- Dept. of Computing,
- Imperial College,
- 180 Queen's Gate,
- London, SW7 2BZ, UK
-
- Email: csa@doc.ic.ac.uk
- Fax: +44 71 589 1552
- Phone: +44 71 589 5111 x5011
-
- The Prolog Resource Guide (v0.6) was printed in issue 5/1
- of the Newsletter (Feb. 1992). This lists information concerning
- Prolog Archives, Books, Suppliers, etc. It is now maintained by
- Mark Kantrowitz (Mark.Kantrowitz@GLINDA.OZ.CS.CMU.EDU), and
- posted periodically to comp.lang.prolog (see question 3).
-
- To send in Newsletter contributions, write to:
-
- Andrew Davison,
- Dept. of Computer Science,
- University of Melbourne,
- Parkville,
- Melbourne, Victoria 3052,
- AUSTRALIA
-
- Email: ad@cs.mu.oz.au
- Fax: +61 3 348 1184
- Phone: +61 3 344 7207 / 5230
- Telex: AA 35185
-
- * * *
-
- 2. Where can I get a public-domain, free Prolog for (the IBM PC,
- the Mac, Unix)?
-
- The following are anonymous-FTP sites for free Prologs
- (or related languages) which are either in the public domain or
- are "copy-lefted" (permitted to be copied with some restrictions
- on commercial use).
-
- [Please see Mark Kantrowitz's monthly "Prolog Resource
- Guide" posting (see question 3) for information about non-free
- implementations.]
-
- (Please note that for extensive development work, users
- will probably want a robust interpreter or compiler with good
- debugging facilities and a standard syntax, among other things.
- While public-domain systems are a valuable service to the
- community, they do not necessarily have all these things, and
- users should weigh carefully what they want to do against the
- capabilities and costs of the available systems.)
-
- For the IBM PC:
- - BinProlog 3.45, anonymous FTP from clement.info.umoncton.ca
- (139.103.16.2), directory BinProlog. Compiler for 386/486
- machines (DOS + Windows 3.1), R6000.
- E-mail: tarau@info.umoncton.ca (Paul Tarau).
- - PIE2, available on CompuServe in the AIEXPERT forum,
- interpreter and examples in PIE2.ZIP, documentation in
- PIEDOC.ZIP. E-mail: ruggles@shell.com (Brent Ruggles).
- - SWI Prolog, anonymous FTP from swi.psy.uva.nl (145.18.114.17),
- directory pub/SWI-Prolog; or from ftp.th-darmstadt.de
- (130.83.55.75), directory pub/programming/languages/prolog.
- Windows application available. Portable, copy-lefted.
- - XSB, system with SLG-resolution, HiLog syntax, and unification
- factoring. Compiler for many platforms including SunOS, Linux,
- and Windows. Anonymous FTP from ftp.cs.sunysb.edu (130.245.1.40),
- directory pub/XSB. E-mail: xsb-contact@cs.sunysb.edu
-
- For the Apple Macintosh:
- - LPA MacProlog, demo version, anonymous FTP from
- aisun1.ai.uga.edu, directory ai.prolog; download "Contents" first.
- - Open Prolog, anonymous FTP from its home site: ftp.cs.tcd.ie,
- directory pub/languages/open-prolog.
- Also available from sumex-aim.stanford.edu, directory
- info-mac/Development. E-mail: brady@cs.tcd.ie (Michael Brady).
- - TPM (the Transparent Prolog Machine), anonymous FTP from
- hcrl.open.ac.uk, directory /pub/software. Demo LPA
- MacProlog with the TPM debugger built on top.
- - UPMAIL Tricia Prolog, anonymous FTP from ftp.csd.uu.se
- (130.238.12.1), directory pub/Tricia; get README first.
- Email: tricia-request@csd.uu.se.
-
- For Unix systems:
- - ALF (Algebraic Logic Functional language), WAM-based language
- with narrowing/rewriting, anonymous FTP from ftp.germany.eu.net,
- directory "pub/programming/languages/LogicFunctional".
- E-mail: opalla@julien.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (Rudolf Opalla).
- - Aquarius Prolog 1.0, send message with body "get aquarius-info
- license" to listserv@acal-server.usc.edu. High performance,
- commercial functionality except debugging and modules. For
- directory pub/XSB. E-mail: xsb-contact@cs.sunysb.edu
- - Argo Prolog v.1.1, anonymous ftp from ftp.csk.co.jp, directory
- "/pub/CSK/argo_prolog". Runs on Solaris 1.x and HP-UX 9.x.
- Contact: doi@csk.co.jp (Takao Doi).
- - BinProlog 3.45, anonymous FTP from clement.info.umoncton.ca
- (139.103.16.2), directory BinProlog. Compiler for SPARC
- (SunOS 4.x + Solaris), DEC Alpha, MIPS, NeXT, Sun3.
- E-mail: tarau@info.umoncton.ca (Paul Tarau).
- - B-Prolog 2.0, anonymous ftp from ftp.kyutech.ac.jp
- (131.206.1.101), directory pub/Language/prolog. Portable,
- copyrights reserved. E-mail: zhou@mse.kyutech.ac.jp
- - clp(FD), anonymous FTP from ftp.inria.fr, directory
- "/INRIA/Projects/ChLoE/LOGIC_PROGRAMMING/clp_fd". Constraint
- logic programming over finite domains. Requires GNU C v.2.4.5
- or higher. Contact: daniel.diaz!inria.fr (Daniel Diaz).
- - CLP(R), available by e-mail request from Joxan Jaffar,
- "joxan@watson.ibm.com". Constraint logic programming language,
- for academic and research purposes only.
- - KLIC, anonymous FTP from ftp.icot.or.jp, file name
- "/ifs/symbolic-proc/unix/klic/klic.tgz". ICOT Free
- Software. Concurrent logic programming. Tested on Sparcs,
- DEC 7000, Gateway P5-60. Contact: ifs@icot.or.jp
- - Mercury v0.5.1, anonymous ftp from turiel.cs.mu.oz.au,
- directory "/pub/mercury". See http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/mercury.
- Runs on Solaris, SunOS, IRIX 5.x, HPUX, ULTRIX, AIX, Linux, and
- Windows 95.
- - Modular SB-Prolog (= SB-Prolog version 3.1 plus modules),
- anonymous FTP from ftp.dcs.ed.ac.uk (129.215.160.5), file
- SPARC, DECstation, MIPS, HP 9000 series, Sun 3. Copy-lefted.
- - SWI Prolog, anonymous FTP from swi.psy.uva.nl (145.18.114.17),
- directory pub/SWI-Prolog; or from ftp.th-darmstadt.de
- (130.83.55.75), directory pub/programming/languages/prolog.
- Portable, copy-lefted.
- - wamcc, anonymous FTP from ftp.inria.fr, directory
- "/INRIA/Projects/ChLoE/LOGIC_PROGRAMMING/wamcc". Compiler which
- translates Prolog to C via WAM. Debuggers. Requires GNU C
- v.2.4.5 or higher. Contact: daniel.diaz!inria.fr (Daniel Diaz).
- - XSB, system with SLG-resolution, HiLog syntax, and unification
- factoring. Compiler for many platforms including SunOS, Linux,
- and Windows. Anonymous FTP from ftp.cs.sunysb.edu (130.245.1.40),
- pub/dts/mod-prolog.tar.Z . Interpreter for SPARC.
- E-mail: mprolog@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Brian Paxton).
-
- * * *
-
- 3. What commercial systems are available? What about systems
- available for a price from research institutions?
-
- Many commercial systems are listed in the periodically
- posted Prolog Resource Guide. The Resource Guide also lists
- many systems which are not exactly "commercial", but available
- for a price from research instutitions. The list of such
- systems was originally compiled by Chris Moss, of Imperial
- College. The rest of the Resource Guide was originally compiled
- by Dag Wahlberg, of Uppsala University.
-
- The Resource Guide is now maintained by the kind efforts
- of Mark Kantrowitz, "Mark.Kantrowitz@GLINDA.OZ.CS.CMU.EDU", who
- posts it ON THE 14TH OF EVERY MONTH on comp.lang.prolog. It is
- also available by anonymous FTP from "ftp.cs.cmu.edu"
- [128.2.206.173] in the directory
- "/afs/cs.cmu.edu/project/ai-repository-3/ai/lang/prolog/faq",
- as the files "prg_1.faq" and "prg_2.faq".
-
- Readers should also note that the Prolog Management Group
- (formerly the Prolog Vendors' Group) is contactable
- electronically via its Secretary, Steve Cartmell. His address
- is "steve@pap.com".
-
- * * *
-
- 4. How do I get in touch with my Prolog's users' group,
- sales representative, or technical support line?
-
- Here are some e-mail addresses of these contacts, listed
- alphabetically by company or major product name. Please note
- that sometimes phoning or writing to the company will get better
- response than e-mail.
-
- ALS (Applied Logic Systems):
- Information: info@als.com
- Sales: sales@als.com
- Tech support: support@als.com
-
- Amzi! inc.:
- Information: info@amzi.com
- Sales: sales@amzi.com
- Support: support@amzi.com
-
- COSYTEC (CHIP V4):
- Information: cosytec@cosytec.fr
- Support: help@cosytec.fr
-
- ECLiPSe and Sepia:
- Users' group: eclipse_users@ecrc.de
- Information: eclipse_request@ecrc.de
- Tech support: eclipse_bugs@ecrc.de
-
- Expert Systems Ltd. (Prolog-2):
- Sales: sales@expert.demon.co.uk
- Support: support@expert.demon.co.uk
- Users' group: prolog2-request@hplb.hpl.hp.com
-
- LPA:
- Sales: lpa@cix.compulink.co.uk
- Tech support: lpa@cix.compulink.co.uk
-
- PDC Prolog:
- Information: pdc-request@pdc.dk
- Sales: sales@pdc.dk
- Tech support: support@pdc.dk
-
- ProLog by BIM:
- The company is in flux at last report. Please contact
- bmd@CS.kuleuven.ac.be (Bart Demoen) for more information.
-
- Quintus:
- Users' group: quintus-users-request@aiil.co.uk
- Sales: prolog@aiil.co.uk
- Tech support: support@aiil.co.uk
-
- SICStus:
- Users' group: sicstus-users-request@sics.se
- Sales: sicstus-request@sics.se
- Tech support: sicstus-bug@sics.se
-
- Turbo Prolog:
- Turbo Prolog is the older name for PDC Prolog (see above).
-
- * * *
-
- 5. I think language X is better than Prolog. What do you think?
-
- These debates rarely result in any productive discussion.
- To some extent, one's favourite language is based on irrational
- ideology.
-
- However, many people now agree that different languages are
- good for different things. Prolog seems to be good for problems
- in which logic is intimately involved, or whose solutions have a
- succinct logical characterization. Like other interactive,
- symbolic languages, Prolog is also good for rapid prototyping.
-
- Also, please note that there are many different "Prologs"
- and other logic programming languages available, all with
- different capabilities.
-
- * * *
-
- 6. My Prolog prof assigned me this problem. Can you help
- me with it?
-
- If your instructor assigned it to you, he or she probably
- wanted you to do it yourself. If it's an introductory Prolog
- course, your question might be elementary to most readers, so it
- might be a waste of network resources to ask it. Please ask
- your instructor, a friend, a teaching assistant, or a local
- newsgroup for help first.
-
- That being said, there are comp.lang.prolog readers who
- would be glad to help people making a legitimate attempt to
- learn Prolog.
-
- * * *
-
- 7. Can you suggest some books on Prolog?
-
- The Prolog Resource Guide (see above, question 3) contains
- a listing of Prolog books. It is maintained by Mark Kantrowitz
- (Mark.Kantrowitz@GLINDA.OZ.CS.CMU.EDU), and posted periodically
- on comp.lang.prolog.
-
- Here are some of the most popular books on Prolog.
-
- _Programming in Prolog_. William F. Clocksin and Christopher S.
- Mellish. Springer-Verlag, 1994 (4th ed). (Introductory.)
-
- _Prolog Programming for Artificial Intelligence_. Ivan Bratko.
- Addison-Wesley, 1990 (2nd ed). (Introductory.)
-
- _The Art of Prolog: Advanced Programming Techniques_. Leon
- Sterling and Ehud Shapiro. MIT Press, 1994 (2nd ed). (Advanced.)
-
- _The Craft of Prolog_. Richard A. O'Keefe. MIT Press, 1990.
- (Advanced.)
-
- _Foundations of Logic Programming_. John Lloyd.
- Springer-Verlag, 1988 (2nd ed). (Logic programming theory.)
-
- * * *
-
- 8. Are there any FTP archive sites for comp.lang.prolog?
-
- Yes. As of the latest check, the following archive sites
- contain selected recent articles from comp.lang.prolog in the
- indicated directories.
-
- "cs.dal.ca": /pub/comp.archives/comp.lang.prolog
- "info2.rus.uni-stuttgart.de":
- /pub/comm/news/archive/comp.archives/auto/comp.lang.prolog
-
- Some other sites contain copies of this FAQ list and the
- Prolog Resource Guide (see question 3). For users with "archie"
- access, type "archie comp.lang.prolog" for an up-to-date list of
- sites having either archives or the periodic postings.
-
- * * *
-
- 9. How can I get a copy of the draft ISO Prolog standard?
- Where can I go for more information about it?
-
- You can pick up a copy by anonymous FTP from site
- "ai.uga.edu", directory "/pub/prolog.standard". The directory
- also contains a summary of the standard, by Michael Covington,
- in the "isoprolog" files. Note that no one at that site can
- answer any questions about the standard; it is just an FTP site
- for the standard in the USA.
-
- A copy of Richard O'Keefe's Prolog standard draft from 1984
- is available from "ftp.ecrc.de", file /pub/eclipse/std/plstd.doc".
-
- For more information about the ISO Prolog standard, contact
-
- Roger Scowen
- ISO/IEC JTC1 SC22 WG17 (Prolog) convener,
- DITC/93, National Physical Laboratory
- TEDDINGTON, Middlesex TW11 0LW
- UNITED KINGDOM
- Tel: +44 81 943 6956
- Fax: +44 81 977 7091
- E-mail: rss@seg.npl.co.uk
-
- * * *
-
- 10. How does the WAM (Warren Abstract Machine) work? How do I
- write a WAM-based compiler or a WAM emulator?
-
- Reportedly the best tutorial is Hassan Ait-Kaci's book
- _Warren's Abstract Machine: A Tutorial Reconstruction_ (MIT
- Press, 1991). A public-domain WAM emulator, written in C++ by
- Herve Touati, is available by anonymous FTP at site
- "gatekeeper.dec.com", in directory "pub/plan/prolog/ucb".
-
- * * *
-
- 11. Is there a WWW (World Wide Web) page on logic programming?
-
- Yes, there is one by Jonathan Bowen; the URL is
- "http://www.comlab.ox.ac.uk/archive/logic-prog.html".
- He invites us to mail him at "bowen@comlab.ox.ac.uk" with any
- relevant information for inclusion.
-
- * * *
-
- Acknowledgements
-
- Thank you to all the people who helped put together the
- first version of this FAQ, and everyone who has contributed to
- it over the years. Special thanks to John Dowding for
- suggesting a good format for the list, and to Chris Moss, Dag
- Wahlberg, and Mark Kantrowitz for their work on the Prolog
- Resource Guide.
-
- --Jamie Andrews.
- jamie@cs.sfu.ca
-