A slightly belated response to your message.
> I have heard the odd reference to Poplog and am very curious. Can
> anyone e-mail me information about the language, availability etc.
> Something on the order of a FAQ, or references to the literature would
> be very nice.
>
> Bill Turkel (UBC)
> bill@hivnet.ubc.ca (preferred)
Poplog is a portable multi-language interactive software development
environment, including incremental compilers for Pop-11, Common Lisp,
Prolog and Standard ML. These are implemented using general purpose
compiler development tools that are part of Poplog. Poplog also includes
a rich interface to the X window system and various graphical utilities,
an integrated screen editor (which has a multi-window version for use
with X), and masses of online documentation, demonstration programs, and
teaching material for AI and Cognitive science.
Because keeping the development going is quite expensive it isn't free,
though there's an 85% discount for academics. At present it runs only
on unix and VMS systems (not all of them).
The Pop-11 language is comparable in power to common lisp, but has a
more redundant (I would say more readable) pascal-like syntax, and some
unique features of its own, including lightweight processes and compiler
development utilities.
I don't know if anyone else has given you answers, but just in case, I
have put the current draft of my Pop-11 primer, which includes a lot of
information about Poplog, into the Birmingham ftp site. This is now far
more up to date than anything else that has been published about Pop-11
(or, Poplog, I think).
There are two versions of the file:
1. a straightforward ascii text file designed for browsing
in the Poplog editor VED, or something similar.
2. a postscript version created by converting the original to
latex (using a Pop-11 program) and then running it through
latex. I have not checked that all the formatting is correct,
and I may later do some further work on the primer, as there
are some important aspects of Pop-11 that are not yet included.
To access them via ftp, do
ftp ftp.cs.bham.ac.uk
You should then get a login prompt. Login in as "anonymous"
When it requests your password give your email address.
Then change to the Poplog directory
cd pub/dist/poplog
To get a list of all files and directories do
ls
The compressed ascii primer is
primer.Z
The compressed postscript formatted version is
primer.ps.Z
Comments welcome.
Warning it's about 260 pages. If you just want a general overview,
read only the preface.
If you need a still shorter summary it may be that the Poplog
distributors have a blurb that can be posted to you.
Any other pop-forum or comp.lang.pop readers are welcome to take copies.
I welcome comments and criticisms. It's a bit repetitive because of the
way it's been written.
Aaron
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