Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!munnari.oz.au!goanna!ok
From: ok@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au (Richard A. O'Keefe)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.prolog
Subject: Re: carridge return
Keywords: sick
Message-ID: <5708@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au>
Date: 13 May 91 06:24:04 GMT
References: <3191@n-kulcs.cs.kuleuven.ac.be>
Organization: Comp Sci, RMIT, Melbourne, Australia
Lines: 48

In article <3191@n-kulcs.cs.kuleuven.ac.be>,
bimandre@saturnus.cs.kuleuven.ac.be (Andre Marien)
demonstrates that it's a good thing I'm no Ajax,
for he makes a *wonderful* Agamemnon.
In particular, his

> If people ask how to write something basic in Prolog, it certainly does
> not help saying: use the library, we already solved that for you.

is hard to believe.  First off, people usually ask "how do I do X" questions
because they want to *DO* X.  Saying "use the library" most certainly helps
them accomplish what they want to accomplish.  What's more, the Quintus
library is supplied in source form; if people want to find out how to write
that kind of thing themselves, the library is a very good place to look.
A further point is that people who use the library (heck, any library) save
themselves an enormous amount of work, and make it easier for other people
in the same group to read their code.

> I am sick of supposed-to-be Prolog text-books refering to library
> predicates, which you need to consult to be able to read the books.

Any examples in mind?

> I hate pure advertising on the net: 'Mine does', 'Quintus users, of
> course'., certainly if intermixed with decent comments, a typical
> advertiser trick.

Well, we have a bit of inconsistency there:  if there are decent comments
it isn't pure advertising.  And where is the advertising in the reference
to Quintus?  Certainly I have ties of affection to Quintus, but it has been
a long time since I had any money from them.  Why didn't Andre Marien
complain about the postings from other Prolog suppliers in the thread about
reading from a character list?  Why is it postings from someone who _isn't_
financially linked to a vendor that arouse his ire?

I would be perfectly happy to make favourable mention of "Prolog from BIM"
as I have occasionally made favourable mention of ALS Prolog, ZYX Prolog,
and SICStus Prolog.  There's only one snag:  I have manuals for most of the
main Prolog systems, but none for BIM.  An Australian representative of BIM
tried to sell me a copy of "Prolog from BIM" a while back, but when I asked
if I could buy a copy of the manual, they said that it was company policy
not to let anyone have a manual who wasn't buying the product.  We have
NU Prolog and SICStus Prolog, and are getting PopLog.  Another Prolog we
don't need.  But a manual would have been of help in writing portable code...

-- 
Bad things happen periodically, and they're going to happen to somebody.
Why not you?					-- John Allen Paulos.