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From: schase@pollux.usc.edu (Scott Chase)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.prolog
Subject: Re: MAC Prolog
Message-ID: <13330@oberon.USC.EDU>
Date: 9 Nov 88 04:15:33 GMT
References: <1561@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu> <200@internal.Apple.COM>
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In article <200@internal.Apple.COM> casseres@Apple.COM (David Casseres) writes:
>In article <1561@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu> vu0112@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu (Cliff Joslyn) writes:
>>
>>A friend of mine is going to teach herself Prolog next semester and
>>wants a good system for the Mac.  What would the Net recommend, and how
>>much will it cost?
>
>I'm using AAIS Prolog, and I like it.  I'm no Prolog expert, but it seems to
>be a righteous Prolog and it is a pretty good Macintosh program.  It includes
>a large repertoire of predefined Mac ROM calls, and also a general mechanism
>for making any ROM call by using its trap number.
>
>It supports both the Edinburgh syntax and an extended syntax called AAIS
>syntax.
>
>It requires a good deal of memory, like a megabyte.  Given that, it runs
>fine with MultiFinder, and with both recent and older System files.
>
>The price is right; I forget what it was exactly but it was in the neighbor-
>hood of $200.
>
>David Casseres


I heartily agree with David. I've been using AAIS Prolog since Feb.1987 and it
is pretty powerful for a micro based system. The manual has a decent
introduction for getting started using THIS PARTICULAR PACKAGE - other than
that, the manual is a reference manual that at times makes UNIX man pages seem
like they were written for kindergarteners :-(. Much to their credit, AAIS was
shipping a copy of the book "Prolog Programming for Artificial Intelligence" by
Ivan Bratko, an excellent introduction to the language (I prefer it to Clocksin
& Mellish). I don't know if they are still doing this. If not, you will have
to get your own introduction to the language or buy some other interpreter.
The current issue of MacUser lists the price as $150 (the same as when I bought
it). You'll probably want to order it directly from them, since I doubt if any
computer store will have it in stock, or any mail order house will carry it.

AAIS' address is:

Advanced AI Systems
P.O. Box 39-0360
Mountain View, CA 94039-0360
(415) 961-1121

They were a small enough operation in Feb. '87, that when I called to inquire
about the product, I was able to talk to the president/developer, a very 
personable fellow named Doug Lanam. So you know that the customer service 
people CAN answer your questions!

I've used AAIS Prolog for writing theorem provers (successfully), and for
a graphics grammar system, where 1Mb wasn't enough (but that's a problem with
Prolog & Prolog applications in general - they can be memory hogs).

At the time, I felt it was the best package available for the price, and I
still feel so. I'm at the point where I need more power, so I'm moving on to
Quintus Prolog (for the Sun), but I'll always come back to AAIS. There are 
other packages available for the Mac, some as good, most not, but the good ones
generally cost more:

ExperProlog II (ExperTelligence) - $495
LPA MacProlog (Programming Logic Systems) - $495 (another excellent package)
Personal Prolog (Optimized Systems Software) - $64.95
Prolog/m (Chalcedony Software) - $99.95

There are probably some other Mac Prologs available - I got these out of the
MacUser reviews.

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STANDARD DISCLAIMER APPLIES. NO, I DO NOT WORK FOR AAIS.


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         Scott Chase            schase@pollux.usc.edu
                                iak8sct@oac.ucla.edu
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