Design and Implementation of the GNU Prolog System Daniel Diaz Philippe Codognet University of Paris 1 University of Paris 6 CRI, bureau C1407 LIP6, case 169 90, rue de Tolbiac 8, rue du Capitaine Scott 75013 Paris, FRANCE 75015 Paris, FRANCE and INRIA-Rocquencourt and INRIA-Rocquencourt
[email protected] [email protected] Abstract In this paper we describe the design and the implementation of the GNU Pro- log system. This system draws on our previous experience of compiling Prolog to C in the wamcc system and of compiling finite domain constraints in the clp(FD) system. The compilation scheme has however been redesigned in or- der to overcome the drawbacks of compiling to C. In particular, GNU-Prolog is based on a low-level mini-assembly platform-independent language that makes it possible to avoid compiling C code, and thus drastically reduces compilation time. It also makes it possible to produce small stand-alone executable files as the result of the compilation process. Interestingly, GNU Prolog is now com- pliant to the ISO standard, includes several extensions (OS interface, sockets, global variables, etc) and integrates a powerful constraint solver over finite domains. The system is efficient and in terms of performance is comparable with commercial systems for both the Prolog and constraint aspects. 1 Introduction GNU Prolog is a free Prolog compiler supported by the GNU organization (http://www.gnu.org/software/prolog). It is a complete system which in- cludes: floating point numbers, streams, dynamic code, DCG, operating sys- tem interface, sockets, a Prolog debugger, a low-level WAM debugger, line editing facilities with completion on atoms, etc.