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The Metalanguage λprolog and Its Implementation

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Functional and Logic Programming (FLOPS 2001)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 2024))

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Abstract

Stimulated by concerns of software certification especially as it relates to mobile code, formal structures such as specifications and proofs are beginning to play an explicit role in computing. In represent- ing and manipulating such structures, an approach is needed that pays attention to the binding operation that is present in them. The language λProlog provides programming support for a higher-order treatment of abstract syntax that is especially suited to this task. This support is realized by enhancing the traditional strength of logic programming in the metalanguage realm with an ability for dealing directly with binding structure. This paper identifies the features of Prolog that endow it with such a capability, illustrates their use and and describes methods for their implementation. Also discussed is a new realization of Prolog called Teyjus that incorporates the implementation ideas presented.

Acknowledgements

B. Jayaraman, K. Kwon and D.S. Wilson assisted in the design of the Prolog abstract machine and L. Headley, D.J. Mitchell, S.-M. Perng and G. Tong helped in the implementation of the Teyjus system. Support for this work has been provided by NSF at different stages under the grants CCR-8905825, CCR-9208465, CCR-9596119, CCR-9803849 and CCR-0096322.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota, 4-192 EE/CS Building, 200 Union Street SE, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Gopalan Nadathur

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  1. Gopalan Nadathur
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Wirtschaftsinformatik, WestfälischeWilhelms-Universität Münster, Steinfurter Straße 109, 48149, Münster, Germany

    Herbert Kuchen

  2. Department of Information and Computer Science, Waseda University, 4-1, Okubo 3-chome, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169-8555, Japan

    Kazunori Ueda

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Nadathur, G. (2001). The Metalanguage λprolog and Its Implementation. In: Kuchen, H., Ueda, K. (eds) Functional and Logic Programming. FLOPS 2001. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2024. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-44716-4_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-44716-4_1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-41739-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-44716-0

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