The implementation of Prolog

313 Pages·1993·13.586 MB·English, French

by  Boizumault, Patrice, Djamboulian, Ara M., Fattouh, Jamal

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PROLOG
PRINCETON SERIES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE
David R. Hanson and Robert E. Tarjan, Editors
The Implementation of the Icon Programming Language
by Ralph E. Griswold and Madge T. Griswold (1986)
Recent Advances in Global Optimization
edited by Christodoulos A. Floudas and Panos M. Pardalos (1992)
The Implementation of Prolog
by Patrice Boizumault (1993)
The present translated volume has been revised and updated since its
original publication in French. All the programs developed in this book
are available by anonymous ftp at ftp.cnam.fr in the directory pub/
Boizumault. We thank Mr. Bortzmeyer and Le Conservatoire des Arts
et Metiers de Paris for their help.
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PROLOG
PATRICE BOIZUMAULT
Co-translated by Ara M. Djamboulian and Jamal Fattouh
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
Copyright © 1993 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton,
New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Chichester, West Sussex
This book was originally published in French as Prolog: L'Implantation,
copyright © 1988 by Masson Editeur, Paris
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Boizumault, Patrice, 1959-
The implementation of Prolog I Patrice Boizumault.
p. cm. — (Princeton series in computer science)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-691-08757-1
1. Prolog (Computer program language) I. Title. II. Series.
QA76.73.p76B65 1993
005.13'3—dc20 92-25951
Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the
guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production
Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21
To DOMINIQUE
To ROGER AND ODETTE

CONTENTS
Foreword xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 3
PART I
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF THE LANGUAGE
CHAPTER1
UNIFICATION
1.1 Definitions 15
1.2 Robinson's Unification Algorithm 16
1.3 Prolog's Unification Algorithm 17
1.4 Solutions 19
1.5 Implementation 23
CHAPTER 2
RESOLUTION AND PROLOG CONTROL
2.1 Refutation on Horn Clauses 30
2.2 A Particular Resolution Strategy 33
2.3 Tree Representation 36
2.4 Implementation of a Pure Prolog
Interpreter 43
CHAPTER 3
IMPROVING PROLOG CONTROL
3.1 Different Levels of Prolog Control 50
3.2 Variables Annotation in IC-Prolog 52
3.3 The Wait Declarations of MU-Prolog 54
3.4 The Predicatefreeze12 of Prolog-II 57
3.5 Comparison of Wait and Freeze 60
3.6 The When Declarations of NU-Prolog 65
via CONTENTS
PART II
PRINCIPLES AND TECHNIQUES OF IMPLEMENTATION
CHAPTER 4
CONTROL AND STACK(S) MANAGEMENT
4.1 Prolog as a Programming Language 72
4.2 Stack Management 75
4.3 Restoring the Environments 79
CHAPTER 5
REPRESENTATION OF TERMS
5.1 Binding Mechanism 86
5.2 Structure Sharing 91
5.3 Structure Copying 93
CHAPTER 6
DETERMINISTIC CALL RETURNS
6.1 The Problem 103
6.2 Solution for Structure Sharing 105
6.3 Solution for Structure Copying 112
6.4 Comparisons 116
CHAPTER 7
LAST-CALL OPTIMIZATION
7.1 Last-Call Optimization 122
7.2 Implementation 125
CHAPTER 8
CLAUSE INDEXING
8.1 The Concept 137
8.2 Local Stack Enhancement 139
CHAPTER 9
COMPILATION OF PROLOG
9.1 Characteristics of the WAM 146
9.2 Compilation of a Clauses Set 150
9.3 Compilation of a Clause 154
9.4 Extensions 167
CONTENTS ix
CHAPTER 10
THE DIF AND FREEZE PREDICATES OF PROLOG-II
10.1 The difll Predicate of Prolog-II 169
10.2 Implementation Principles 171
10.3 An Implementation of difll and freeze/2 178
10.4 Comparison with SICSTUS Prolog 184
PART III
IMPLEMENTATIONS
CHAPTER 11
MINI-CPROLOG
11.1 The Coding of Static Structures 191
11.2 The Working Zone Architecture 194
11.3 Unification 198
11.4 Control 200
11.5 Extensions 205
CHAPTER 12
MINI-WAM
12.1 Structure Copying 207
12.2 Working Zone Architecture 209
12.3 Unification 213
12.4 Control 216
12.5 Extensions 220
CHAPTER 13
MINI-PROLOG-II
13.1 The Working Zone Architecture 222
13.2 Unification 227
13.3 Control 228
13.4 The Delaying Mechanism 231
13.5 Extensions 236
CHAPTER 14
BUILT-IN PREDICATES
14.1 Management of the Built-in Predicates 237