bimandre@saturnus.cs.kuleuven.ac.be (Andre Marien) (05/02/91)
Message-ID: <5448@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au> > Any good Prolog textbook will tell you how to read a line of > characters. Mine does. Message-ID: <5449@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au> > I am sick of Prolog text-books written by people who didn't bother > to learn the language. Message-ID: <5481@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au> > Quintus users, of course, already have suitable operations in > library(lineio), which is described in the manual. If people ask how to write something basic in Prolog, it certainly does not help saying: use the library, we allready solved that for you. 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. I hate pure advertising on the net : 'Mine does', 'Quintus users, of course'., certainly if intermixed with decent comments, a typical advertiser trick. Andre' Marien bimandre@cs.kuleuven.ac.be Disclaimer: this is a personal message; noone else is responsible.
ok@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au (Richard A. O'Keefe) (05/13/91)
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.
lhe@sics.se (Lars-Henrik Eriksson) (05/13/91)
In article <5708@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au>, ok@goanna (Richard A. O'Keefe) writes: >... Certainly I have ties of affection to Quintus, but it has been >a long time since I had any money from them. Today I got a pamphlet from MIT press together with the LP newsletter. In the presentation of your book "The Craft of Prolog" (which I will buy, btw) it says: "He [ROK] is also consultant to Quintus Computer Systems Inc." This may be incorrect, but you can hardly blame people for believing that you *are* getting money from then. > 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. This is absolutely amazing! If it is true, I wouldn't buy any BIM products. -- Lars-Henrik Eriksson Internet: lhe@sics.se Swedish Institute of Computer Science Phone (intn'l): +46 8 752 15 09 Box 1263 Telefon (nat'l): 08 - 752 15 09 S-164 28 KISTA, SWEDEN
bimandre@icarus.cs.kuleuven.ac.be (Andre Marien) (05/23/91)
Re: <5708@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au> > First off, people usually ask "how do I do X" questions because > they want to *DO* X. They want the know-how to do X. The library may solve their current problem, but shurely does not improve their skills. It may lead to 'readable' code, in spirit equivalent to: X =.. [_|L], length(L,N) > if there are decent comments it isn't pure advertising. If an ad shows a nice landscape, it is not about sigaret smoking? > Why didn't Andre Marien complain about the postings from other > Prolog suppliers in the thread about reading from a character list? Relevant question! You should think about it. Just one comment: other vendors often say: in X we have the builtin Y to solve Z. This is nice to know and pretty harmless if still an ad. I prefer BIM does not do that, unless many others have allready done it. (yes, we have 'sread') Andre' Marien bimandre@cs.kuleuven.ac.be Disclaimer: This is a personal message. No-one else is responsible.