Newsgroups: comp.lang.tcl,comp.lang.prolog
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!udel!news.mathworks.com!uunet!newsflash.concordia.ca!CC.UMontreal.CA!IRO.UMontreal.CA!tarau
From: tarau@IRO.UMontreal.CA (Paul Tarau)
Subject: ANNOUNCEMENT: BinProlog-tk4.0b2/tcl7.4b2 interface
Message-ID: <D3uo73.EM4@IRO.UMontreal.CA>
Summary: portable Prolog Tcl/Tk interface
Keywords: flieevent based  extension, Prolog interface
Sender: Paul Tarau
Organization: Universite de Moncton, Canada
Date: Sat, 11 Feb 1995 19:16:15 GMT
Lines: 47
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.lang.tcl:25034 comp.lang.prolog:12249

A BinProlog server for the Tcl/Tk visual programming environment is
available from

  ftp://clement.info.umoncton.ca/BinProlog/UNCOMPRESSED/TCL

together with the new BinProlog 3.30.

The interface has been ported to tk4.0b2 + tcl7.4b2.
It consists of a _very_ few pages of Prolog and Tcl code.  Thanks to
the strong metaprogramming capabilities of both languages the interface
`compiles' their objects to evaluable representations on the other
side. It is portable between present (and future :-) ) Tcl/Tk
implementations and requires no C-programming. The BinProlog server is
connected to it's master Tcl application through a bidirectional pipe
and it is able to generate and react to Tcl/Tk events via the new
`fileevent' Tcl/Tk command.

For Tcl/Tk programmers it adds a high-performance logic programming
engine which can be seamlessly integrated in their applications.
BinProlog (a fast C-emulated compiler) executes list processing and other
symbolic operations at more than an order of magnitude faster than Tcl
scripts (see nrev.tcl vs. nrev.pl).

For Prolog programmers it gives access to megabytes of free Tcl/Tk
programs and program generators for graphic user interfaces,
network communication, distributed programming facilities, high-level
X programming, regular expression search, etc.

A few demo programs (as a Prolog-driven N-Queens with interactive
Tcl/Tk visualisation) give an idea of what can be done with the
composit environment.

The BinProlog-TCL/Tk interface has been tested for:

   Sparcs with SunOs 4.x and Solaris 2.x 

However it may work also on other systems for which BinProlog 3.30
executables are included. 

For help on the Tcl/Tk installation and programming please take a look
at the FAQs on comp.lang.tcl.  Comments and BinProlog questions should
be addressed to binprolog@info.umoncton.ca.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Tarau 
tarau@info.umoncton.ca

