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From: perry@key.COM (Perry The Cynic)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer,comp.sys.mac.wanted
Subject: Re: Prolog
Summary: Two prolog systems named
Keywords: PROLOG
Message-ID: <2439@key.COM>
Date: 14 Feb 91 01:24:10 GMT
References: <1991Feb12.220827.17917@rodan.acs.syr.edu>
Reply-To: perry@arkon.key.COM (Perry The Cynic)
Organization: Key Computer Laboratories, Fremont
Lines: 42

In article <1991Feb12.220827.17917@rodan.acs.syr.edu> wwtaroli@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Bill Taroli) writes:
> Is anyone out there aware of a Prolog compiler for the Mac? (either PD or 
> commerical will do)

I'll assume you mean "Prolog systems". I'm not quite sure what qualifies as
a "compiler", since most systems use threaded interpreters, intermediate
language compilers, or other funny tricks. Anyway, there are two Mac Prolog
systems that I am aware of. (I'm sure there are others.)

One is called "AAIS Prolog" (AAIS is the company, Advanced A.I. Systems).
It was about $150 when I bought it (2 years ago). It's a good enough
system, well integrated with the Macintosh. It has full toolbox support, plus
the facilities to add toolbox traps and interface with code resources.
There is an Edinburgh-compatible mode, and a native mode that supports
efficient strings (not as character lists) and a few other extensions.
The world can be saved as a binary and quickly reloaded. A stand-alone
application facility is optional, I've never bothered buying it so I can't
comment on it.
AAIS Prolog is not exactly a speed daemon, but on a Mac II it's fast enough
for me. On an SE it's a bit of a drag, but it's serviceable if you can give
it lots of memory (>2MB).
I think I can recommend this as a semi-professional Prolog system, i.e.
it's quite good enough for personal experimentation and quite sizeable
Prolog coding. I've never released a product from it.

The other Prolog I know about, is called LPW Prolog. All I know is, two
years ago I called them and received a Demo Disk. The program on that disk
was to totally bad that I tossed the disk and forgot about them.
What struck me particularly, was that they were an IBM/PC outfit
branching into the Mac world, and their Mac integration was, well, just about
nonexistent.
At that time (early 1989), their pricing was $400 and upwards, in many
little optional pieces.
I'll have to stress that this was two years ago. For all I know, they may
have gotten their act together since. It also seems that LPW is a British
company, and I've heard people from Europe say nice things about them.
It's possible that the problem is or was with their U.S. distributor.
  -- perry
-- 
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Perry The Cynic (Peter Kiehtreiber)		       perry@arkon.key.com
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