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From: ad@munta.cs.mu.OZ.AU (Andrew Davison)
Subject: BeBOP v.1.0 Available
Message-ID: <9325614.15552@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU>
Sender: fpst@hubcap.clemson.edu (Steve Stevenson)
Organization: Department of Computer Sci, University of Melbourne
Follow-Up: comp.parallel
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1993 04:08:41 GMT
Approved: parallel@hubcap.clemson.edu
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BeBOP and bp Version 1.0 now available
======================================


What is BeBOP?
==============
The language BeBOP is a unique combination of sequential 
and parallel Logic Programming (LP), object oriented 
programming and meta-level programming. 

The LP component offers both don't know non-determinism
and stream AND-parallelism, a combination not possible 
with concurrent LP languages. 

BeBOP's object oriented features include object IDs, 
encapsulation, message passing, state updating, and 
object behaviour modification. 

The meta-level capabilities are based on the treatment 
of Prolog theories as first order entities, which 
enables them to be updated easily, and for fragments 
to be passed between objects in messages.

BeBOP is implemented by translation down to NU-Prolog,
and its parallel extension, PNU-Prolog. An unusual
aspect of this is the way that object IDs are utilised 
as a communication mechanism between objects.


What is bp?
===========
The bp interactive interpreter supports BeBOP programming 
by allowing the flexible invocation of objects, and 
offering the means for setting up communication links 
between objects at any time. An incidental benefit is 
the ability to use `global' variables in queries. Since 
bp is an augmentation of the NU-Prolog np system, objects 
and Prolog goals can be combined, and a by-product is 
that the floundering of Prolog queries is avoided.


Where are they?
===============
The BeBOP system (BeBOP and bp), and the PNU-Prolog 
preprocessor pnp, can be found at the anonymous ftp 
site munnari.oz.au (128.250.1.21), in the directory 
pub as the file bebop.tar.Z. Remember to use binary 
mode when copying it.

The release comes with a user manual, several papers 
(in Postscript format), sample programs, and source code.


System requirements
===================
The BeBOP system requires the following:

* The NU-Prolog system, compiler and interpreter
* The pnp preprocessor 
  (this is included as part of the BeBOP system release)
* GCC or similar compiler
* Yacc (or Bison) and Lex


For more details, contact:
==========================
        Andrew Davison
        Dept. of Computer Science
        University of Melbourne
        Parkville, Victoria 3052
        Australia

Email:  ad@cs.mu.oz.au
Fax:    +61 3 348 1184
Phone:  +61 3 287 9172 / 9101
Telex:  AA 35185