Preface
KEY This manual describes the EMAS 2900 version of Prolog. Prolog is a simple but powerful programming language originally developed at the University of Marseilles, as a practical tool for programming in logic. From a user's point of view the major attraction of the language is ease of programming. Clear, readable, concise programs can be written quickly with few errors. Prolog is especially suitable for high level symbolic programming tasks and has been applied in many areas of Artificial Intelligence research. The EMAS Prolog system was written by Luis Damas of the Dept. of Computer Science, Edinburgh. The system consists of a Prolog interpreter and a wide range of evaluable predicates (system provided procedures). Its design was based on the (Edinburgh) DEC10 Prolog system and the system is closely compatible with DEC10 Prolog and thus is also reasonably close to UNIX Prolog and RT11 Prolog. Queries, suggestions, bug reports, and so forth should be sent to the EMAS Prolog maintainers by using the Prolog evaluable predicate: | ?- gripe. You will be prompted for text which will then be mailed to the appropriate person. Emas Prolog is currently being maintained by Lawrence Byrd and Peter Ross in the Artifificial Intelligence Department. This facility is also available as an EMAS command, once you have the directory CONLIB.PROLOG in your searchlist - which you need to run Prolog anyway: Command: gripe If you would prefer to use the EMAS MAIL program then queries etc. can be mailed to "Prolog". Note, however, that this manual is not intended as an introduction to the Prolog language and how to use it. For this purpose you should study: Programming in Prolog William Clocksin & Chris Mellish Springer Verlag 1981 This manual assumes that you are familiar with the principles of the Prolog language, its purpose being to explain how the EMAS Prolog system is used, and to describe all the evaluable predicates that the system makes available to the user.