SWI-Prolog

TL;DR

SWI-Prolog is a versatile, community-driven Prolog system that integrates various features, interfaces, and tools, supporting research, development, and knowledge-intensive applications.

Contribution

The paper presents SWI-Prolog as an integrating platform that combines community contributions, interfaces, and tools, serving as a bridge for diverse Prolog ideas and resources.

Findings

Supports knowledge-intensive and interactive systems

Includes interfaces, CLP libraries, and development tools

Serves as a glue for foreign resources and ideas

Abstract

SWI-Prolog is neither a commercial Prolog system nor a purely academic enterprise, but increasingly a community project. The core system has been shaped to its current form while being used as a tool for building research prototypes, primarily for \textit{knowledge-intensive} and \textit{interactive} systems. Community contributions have added several interfaces and the constraint (CLP) libraries. Commercial involvement has created the initial garbage collector, added several interfaces and two development tools: PlDoc (a literate programming documentation system) and PlUnit (a unit testing environment). In this article we present SWI-Prolog as an integrating tool, supporting a wide range of ideas developed in the Prolog community and acting as glue between \textit{foreign} resources. This article itself is the glue between technical articles on SWI-Prolog, providing context and experience in applying them over a longer period.