udi@wisdom.BITNET (Ehud Shapiro) (07/07/86)
We are pleased to announce the availability of the Logix system, an
experimental Flat Concurrent Prolog program development environment.
Logix can be used to study and experiment with concurrent logic
programming, and to develop applications that can benefit from
combining the expressive power of concurrency with that of the logical
variable.
Logix is not a conventional programming environment; although presently
a single user single processor system, its basic design scales to a
multiprocessor, multiuser system. With its novel approach to parallel
computation control, its concept of active modules and its
object-oriented design of system hierarchies, it is an interesting
system to study in its own right. For the same reason it may be
overdeveloped for the casual user in certain respects (e.g. its
multitasking capabilities), and underdeveloped in others (e.g.
interactive help, "friendliness").
Logix includes an FCP compiler to an abstract machine instruction set
and a C emulator of the abstract machine. With the exception of the
emulator and a few kernels, it is written entirely in Flat Concurrent
Prolog. The system was bootstrapped in Summer 1985, and has seen
extensive use and development since. It was used to develop
applications (including Logix itself) whose total size is over 20,000
lines of FCP source code.
Logix is available on Vax and Sun computers, under the Berkeley Unix
and Ultrix operating systems. It is expected that applications
developed under Logix would run almost directly on a multiprocessor
implementation of Flat Concurrnt Prolog; the availability of such a
prototype system for the Intel iPSC hypercube is announced separately.
The handling fee for a non-commercial license to the Logix system
is $250 U.S. To obtain a license form and/or a copy of the Logix user
manual write to:
Mr Yossef Dabby
Department of Computer Science
The Weizmann Institute of Science
Rehovot 76100, Israel
To obtain an electronic copy of the license write to:
CSnet, Bitnet: logix-request@wisdom
ARPAnet: logix-request%wisdom.bitnet@wiscvm.arpa
References
[1] A. Houri and E. Shapiro, "A sequential abstract machine for Flat
Concurrent Prolog", Weizmann Institute Technical Report CS86-20,
1986.
[2] W. Silverman, M. Hirsch, A. Houri, and E. Shapiro, "The Logix system
user manual, Version 1.21", Weizmann Institute Technical Report
CS86-21.
[3] M. Hirsch, W. Silverman, E. Shapiro, "Layers of protection and
control in the Logix system", Weizmann Institute Technical Report
CS86-19, 1986.