About
fifteen years ago the language Prolog was much more modern than Java is
nowadays, but because of its appetite for memory, processing time and the
lack of good Prolog compilers little by little it was forgotten. We introduce
to you a new product - Strawberry Prolog (www.dobrev.com). It has the ambition
to retrieve the glory of the language Prolog.
Prolog belongs to
the next generation compared to procedure languages of the type of C and
Pascal like they are the next generation compared to Assembler. With the
procedure languages the programmer does not say what is the task but what
is the way for its solution. The code contains commands of the type: "Take
the contents of this memory cell (variable) and add it to this number and
write the result in another cell." That kind of programming produces quick
and efficient programs but it requires time and professionalism. The idea
with Prolog is to be described the task and the solution to be left to
the compiler. The program consists of a list with facts (axioms) and rules
through which from the given facts new ones can be worked out. Here is
an example for a fact recorded in the syntax of Prolog:
loves (john, whisky).
We are not going to
explain what does this fact say, taking advantage of the self- explainability
(one good feature of Prolog), i.e. people who have never seen a program
written in Prolog read and understand it. This is an example for a rule:
loves (john, X):-loves (X, whisky).
Here :-
means "if" and X means variable, i.e.
everyone. The above can be read in the following way: John loves everyone
who loves whisky.
With the facts and
rules we describe the things we know. To create a program only a question
has to be added. For example:
?-loves (john, john).
That is: does John
love himself. The answer will be yes
(explain why). As you can see, the Prolog program does not resemble the
familiar to you programs of procedure languages as C, for example. It may
even seem a bit unserious but it can be understood even by someone who
has never been into programming. If you install to your computer Strawberry
Prolog and play with the example programs you will find out that this is
a feature of the language. Without having studied Prolog you will understand
a lot from the programs, and if you want to learn more you have at your
disposal a splendid Help
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containing useful information and a Tutorial.
An important advantage
of Strawberry Prolog is its connection to the Internet. The product maintains
SQL data base (My SQL for the moment and for the future ODBC will be maintained),
and with its help OLE servers can be run and CGI Scripts can be written.
Internet Sockets can be maintained (look Strawberry Chat - a chat program
created in Prolog).
The maintenance of
the technology COM (the running of OLE servers and ActiveX objects) is
viewed as one of the most prospective areas in which the product is developed.
Speaking of the running of applied programs as MS Word, Excel, Corel Draw,
etc. For the time being few compilers maintain the running of OLE servers
(Visual Basic and Delphi, for example). An important part of the work with
OLE servers is the instrument Object Browser. With its help you can see
what OLE servers are installed on your computer, what are their methods,
objects and properties. You will be amazed how many OLE servers there are
on your computer.
Another new technology
is Strawberry Prolog CGI Script. This gives you the opportunity to write
programs working on the server. This makes Prolog a real alternative of
Perl.
In important instrument
for every compiler is the debugger. Without it it would be impossible for
any program to be run. It is not by coincidence that the authors of Strawberry
Prolog have put a lot effort in that area. Its most important part is the
instrument Proof Tree - a window in which you can see the execution of
your program step by step. The creators of Strawberry Prolog - a team of
computer scientists with their leader Dimiter Dobrev (a mathematician from
the Bulgarian Academy of Science) are working on Prolog Plug-In. This will
make Prolog a real alternative of the Java aplets and will enable your
program simply to be put on the Web page without additional correction.
For the time being,
the environment of Strawberry Prolog works only under Windows 95/NT, no
matter that the core of the product runs under Linux and UNIX. In near
future a Macintosh version is planned. The aim is Strawberry to become
an environment for the development of a platform independent software.
Strawberry Prolog
is an interesting product and it is worth spending a few minutes for it
(you can find the working version on the disk of this edition). The installation
and uninstallation are automatic and will not be a problem for you.
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