Efficient Interpretation of Prolog Programs

The paper focuses on three ideas for solving problems with writing interpreters for the logic programming language Prolog in Prolog and how to combine these ideas to an interpreter for Prolog which is both simple and efficient. The resulting interpreter system can be incorporated into a Prolog based on Warren's Abstract Machine and built mostly from existing parts of it. The interpreter has been implemented and is used in a Prolog system developed at Uppsala University. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the ACM SIGPLAN '87 Symposium on Interpreters and Interpretive Techniques. The research reported herein was supported by the National Swedish Board for Technical Development (STU). 1. INTRODUCTION The subject of this paper is a description of the interpreter used in Tricia, the Prolog implementation for the DEC-2060 computer developed at UPMAIL [Barklund et al. 86; Barklund & Millroth A]. For an introduction to Prolog, see [Sterling & Shapiro 86; Clocksin & Mellish 81..