Prolog Comparison

This page talk about several popular Prolog systems that I know, together with a subjective valoration. Please tell me in the Forum if you think that I should include another dialect or if you disagree with some comments:

Content

• What Prolog do I Need?
• Prolog Comparison
• Prolog List
• Resources

What Prolog do I Need?

• "I just want to learn Prolog"
  Checkout SWI-Prolog. SWI complies to the standard and it is free and stable.
• "I want do do advanced GUI stuff"
  Checkout SWI, Visual Prolog and LPA-Prolog. SWI has a commercial GUI on top of it, and LPA and Visual Prolog allows you to develop cute Windows apps.
• "I want to do real time robot control"
  Checkout BinProlog. You may even be faster than C because you have more time to concentrate on your algorithms.
• "I want to integrate a Prolog-Interpeter in my application"
  Checkout DGKS Prolog for a Java version or check the Prolog Resource Guide for other free Prologs.

Prolog Comparison

Prolog List

• SWI Prolog
  Is my favorite Prolog. It is free and comes in versions for Windows (Win95, WinNT, Win2000), Linux and Solaris. It is production quality, complies with the standards and contains a lot of libraries. The downside is that it does not have a visual level debugger and that it is not vey fast.
  
  
• Turbo Prolog
  I only mention Tubo Prolog here because some of my games are based on it. Turbo Prolog is about 7 years old and only works with MS-DOS. This implies serious memory limitation. Also, it uses a special Prolog dialect with typed variables and some other restrictions. However, it is very fast, and contains a convenient visual debugger. I once learned Prolog by observing this debugger...
  
  
• Visual Prolog
  Is the successor or Turbo Prolog. It is available for Windows, and in text-only versions for Linux and SCO. A personal licence is available for US 5. I haven't checked it out myself, but my Prolog-Chess has successfully ported to it. Please tell me about your experiences.
  
  
• LPA Win-Prolog. Another commercial Prolog compiler system for Windows-based PCs. LPA offers a restricted trial version of the compiler. They've got an interesting site with real-world Prolog applications.
  
  
• Sicstus Prolog
  The most professional Prolog around. It has a generator for native Sparc code and is probably best suited for comercial projects. Check for the price list.
  
  
• Quintus Prolog
  Used to be the "Mercedes" of the Prologs. It features a great graphical source level debugger. However, it has been bought by Sicstus and (I think) it is not maintained anymore.
  
  
• Bin Prolog
  A strange but very fast Prolog-Dialect that requires to rewrite you existing applications. However, I think that it is the fastest Prolog around and it is free for noncommercial purposes. I would use it instead of C++ if I should ever manage to write a robot control...
  
  
• Minerva Prolog
  Java-Prolog from IF Computer. They claim it's good for professional work with XML, ... They have been involved in a Prolog conference. Any experiences?
  
  
• DGKS Prolog
  A free Prolog implementation using Java. I haven't checked it out, but it looks quite promising.
  
  
• Strawberry Prolog
  Any experiences with this system?
  
  
• Brain Aid Prolog
  Is the parallel Prolog compiler written by Guido, Martin and me a few years ago. Just forget it except you are in distributed AI. It only works on specific "Transputer" parallel computers (not on a PC!).
  
  
• Other Prolog Variants
  There are many other Prolog dialects and systems on the market. Please Check the Prolog Resource Guide below for an exhaustive list. However, most of the are results of scientific work and not particularly designed for beginners.
  

Resources

• The Prolog Resource Guide
  The definite Prolog resource, but is seems to be out of maintenance these days (2001). The link above leads to a local copy that I have made. Please find the original Prolog Resource Guide here.

• Turbo Prolog Goodies from Colin Barker.
  A commented list of Turbo Prolog sample code. Great for beginners.
  
  
• Prolog Tutorial from J.R.Fisher.
  An internet tutorial for standard (SWI) Prolog with many samples and code pieces.
  
  
• Usenet: Comp.lang.prolog
  The Prolog-Newsgroup at Google.