Newsgroups: comp.lang.prolog Subject: comp.lang.prolog Frequently Asked Questions Followup-To: poster From: dirk-jan@warbase.selwerd.cx (Dirk-Jan Faber) Distribution: world Organization: Faber Factory. Summary: Information about free Prolog implementations; contact names for commercial systems; controversial topics. Archive-name: prolog/faq Original-by: jamie at cs.sfu.ca (Jamie Andrews) Version: 1.36 Last-modified: 29/4/1999 by dirk-jan at warbase.selwerd.cx (Dirk-Jan Faber) URL: http://warbase.selwerd.cx/~dirk-jan/prolog/faq/ Posting-frequency: twice a month 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://warbase.selwerd.cx/~dirk-jan/prolog/faq/ 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. What are the recent developments? 7. My Prolog prof assigned me this problem. Can you help me with it? 8. Can you suggest some books on Prolog? 9. Are there any FTP archive sites for comp.lang.prolog? 10. How can I get a copy of the draft ISO Prolog standard? Where can I go for more information about it? 11. How does the WAM (Warren Abstract Machine) work? How do I write a WAM-based compiler or a WAM emulator? 12. Is there a WWW (World Wide Web) page on logic programming? Please forward suggestions for further questions and answers to the current FAQ maintainer, dirk-jan at warbase.selwerd.cx (Dirk-Jan Faber). Changes in this version: * Added Visual Prolog information * Updated LPA information * Added GNU Prolog * * * 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 (Dirk-Jan) 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 at 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 at GLINDA.OZ.CS.CMU.EDU), and used to be posted periodically (?) to comp.lang.prolog (see question 3 and 8). To send in Newsletter contributions, write to: Andrew Davison, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Melbourne, Victoria 3052, AUSTRALIA Email: ad at 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 7.0, download free evaluation copies and see online demos at: http://www.binnetcorp.com/BinProlog. E-mail: binnetcorp@binnetcorp.com (Paul Tarau). Inexpensive Educational licensing available. Compiler for Windows 95/98/NT, Linux and all major Unix platforms. Has built-in networking, multi-threading, mobile code and distributed blackboards. Supports BinNet Internet Programming Tool kit (see http://www.binnetcorp.com/Internet ). - ECLiPSe Constraint Logic Programming System, subsuming Prolog. License required, but free for research and educational purposes. Binary distribution for Solaris, SunOs, Linux, WindowsNT. Further information at http://www.icparc.ic.ac.uk/eclipse - PIE2, available on CompuServe in the AIEXPERT forum, interpreter and examples in PIE2.ZIP, documentation in PIEDOC.ZIP. E-mail: ruggles at shell.com (Brent Ruggles). - SWI Prolog, from http://www.swi.psy.uva.nl/projects/SWI-Prolog/ portable (Unix, Windows 95/98/NT, poorly maintained ports for DOS, Amiga, OS/2 and others). Distributed as source with binaries for some platforms. Free for educational and research usage. - 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 at cs.sunysb.edu - Trinc-Prolog, available from http://www.trinc-prolog.com/. Running on Windows 95, 98 and NT 4.0, with plans for Windows 2000, linux and Sun Solaris. E-mail: info at trinc-prolog.com - Strawberry Prolog, available from http://www.dobrev.com/. This 32-bit compiler is running on Windows 95 and NT, with plans to cover UNIX and Macintosh. Current version 1.01. E-mai: dimiter at dobrev.com - Visual Prolog includes all the facilities necessary to write mission critical commercial-grade applications. Cross-platform: Win16/32, OS/2, Linux and SCO Unix. Fully visual development environment. Open architecture. Built-in database system and ODBC support. From http://www.visual-prolog.com and http://www.pdc.dk/vip Visual Prolog Personal Edition is available on a freeware license. 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 at 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. UPMAIL is still available, but unsupported. For the Apple MessagePad Newton: - Newt Prolog, currently only beta version available; download and more information on http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/~jlv. E-mail: jlv at cfht.hawaii.edu 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 at julien.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (Rudolf Opalla). - Aquarius Prolog 1.0. High performance, commercial functionality except debugging and modules. Available from and more information on: http://www.info.ucl.ac.be/people/PVR/aquarius.html - 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 at 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 at 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 at 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(FD,S), available from webpage http://pauillac.inria.fr/~georget/clp_fds/clp_fds.html Requires GNU C (gcc) version 2.4.5. or higher. Contact: Yan.Georget at inria.fr (Yan Georget). - CLP(R), available by e-mail request from Joxan Jaffar, "joxan at 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 at icot.or.jp - Mercury v0.8.1, 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 at dcs.ed.ac.uk (Brian Paxton). - LogTalk 2.0, Compilers for Linux/Unix, MacOS, Windows 95/NT, available from http://www.ci.uc.pt/logtalk/download.html E-mail: pmoura at mat.uc.pt (Paulo Moura) - GNU Prolog 1.0.0, Supported platforms include SunOS/sparc, Solaris/ sparc and GNU/Linux/ix86. Available by anonymous ftp from ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Projects/loco/gnu-prolog/. E-mail: daniel.diaz at inria.fr (Daniel Diaz) Java based Prologs: - Jinni 2.27: Multi-threaded, Java based Prolog interpreter with built-in networking, distributed blackboards and mobile code (inexpensive shareware licensing available). Download free evaluation copies and see online demos at: http://www.binnetcorp.com/Jinni . For Transputers: - Brain Aid Prolog (BAP) v1.4 is a parallel prolog system for Transputer systems. Available under a Berkely style of copy- right. Details on http://www.comnets.rwth-aachen.de/~ost/private.html * * * 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 at 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 at 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 at als.com Sales: sales at als.com Tech support: support at als.com Amzi! inc.: Information: info at amzi.com Sales: sales at amzi.com Support: support at amzi.com COSYTEC (CHIP V4): Information: cosytec at cosytec.fr Support: help at cosytec.fr ECLiPSe and Sepia: Users' group: eclipse-users at icparc.ic.ac.uk Information: eclipse-request at icparc.ic.ac.uk Tech support: eclipse-bugs at icparc.ic.ac.uk Web site: http://www.icparc.ic.ac.uk/eclipse Expert Systems Ltd. (Prolog-2): Sales: sales at expert.demon.co.uk Support: support at expert.demon.co.uk Users' group: prolog2-request at hplb.hpl.hp.com GNU Prolog Users' group: users-prolog-request at gnu.org Bug reports: bug-prolog at gnu.org Web site: http://pauillac.inria.fr/~diaz/gnu-prolog LPA: Sales: sales at lpa.co.uk Tech support: support at lpa.co.uk Web site: http://www.lpa.co.uk/ PDC / Visual Prolog: Information: sales at pdc.dk (or sales at visual-prolog.com) Sales: sales at pdc.dk (or sales at visual-prolog.com) Tech support: support at pdc.dk (or support at visual-prolog.com) ProLog by BIM: Contact: prolog at bim.be (Kathleen Pierco) Users' group: prolog-users-request at bim.be Quintus: Users' group: quintus-users-request at sics.se Sales: qpsales at sics.se Tech support: qpsupport at sics.se SICStus: Users' group: sicstus-users-request at sics.se Sales: sicstus-request at sics.se Tech support: sicstus-support at 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. What are the recent developments? There are some languages in development which do not have Prolog syntax, but do subsume and generalize Prolog's logic programming abilities. The Mozart Consortium: Information: http://www.mozart-oz.org/ Users' group: users-request at mozart-oz.org Tech support: users at mozart-oz.org * * * 7. 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. * * * 8. 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 at 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.) * * * 9. Are there any FTP archive sites for comp.lang.prolog? No. That is, the following archives used to contain the articles from comp.lang.prolog, but at latest check (1-2-1999) I (Dirk-Jan) have failed to log in. "info2.rus.uni-stuttgart.de": /pub/comm/news/archive/comp.archives/auto/comp.lang.prolog "cs.dal.ca": /pub/comp.archives/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. Other (web) archives of comp.lang.prolog include Dejanews: http://www.dejanews.com/home_ps.shtml and Reference: http://www.reference.com/ * * * 10. 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/pub/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 at seg.npl.co.uk * * * 11. 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". * * * 12. 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 at 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. Special thanks to Jamie Andrews, who has been maintaining and posting the FAQ for at least three and a half years. -- Dirk-Jan Faber dirk-jan at warbase.selwerd.cx