Poplog facts for kids

Poplog is a special computer program that helps people create other computer programs. It's like a big toolbox for programmers! It lets them write code using several different programming languages, such as POP-11, Common Lisp, Prolog, and Standard ML.

It was first made in the United Kingdom to help teach and research artificial intelligence (AI) at the University of Sussex. Later, it was sold as a commercial product for making software, teaching, and research. It was even supported by a UK government program called the Alvey Programme.

From 1982 to 1999, Poplog was a paid program. This means you had to buy a license to use it. But in 1999, it became open-source. This means its code is free for anyone to use, change, and share, under licenses like the MIT License and XFree86 License.

Poplog's Journey: From University to Open Source

Poplog started when a special tool for the Prolog language was added to a program called POP-11. The name "POPLOG" was chosen because it combined "POP" (from POP-11) and "LOG" (from Prolog).

The system grew to support more languages like Common Lisp and Standard ML. The University of Sussex kept the name "Poplog" as its official brand.

Becoming a Commercial Product

After 1983, Poplog was sold around the world as a commercial product. A company called Systems Designers Ltd (SDL) helped sell and support it. Most of the development work continued at Sussex University.

Over time, SDL changed names as it was bought by other companies. In 1991, a new company called Integral Solutions Ltd (ISL) was formed. ISL worked with Sussex University to sell and support Poplog. The university still owned the rights to the name.

In 1992, ISL and Sussex University won an award called a "Smart Award." This was to celebrate Poplog sales reaching $5 million!

Poplog and Clementine

ISL and its customers used Poplog for many projects. One very important project was ISL's data-mining system called Clementine. Data mining is about finding patterns in large amounts of information. Clementine was mostly built using the POP-11 language.

Clementine became very successful. In 1998, a company called SPSS Inc. bought ISL. SPSS already sold a popular statistics program. They wanted Clementine's great graphical interface.

SPSS decided not to sell Poplog itself. So, Poplog became free and open-source software. The University of Birmingham helped host the open-source version. Later, IBM bought SPSS, and Clementine is now known as SPSS Modeler.

Languages Poplog Supports

The main language at the heart of Poplog is POP-11. This language is used to build and run all the other languages within Poplog. All these languages are "incrementally compiled," which means they can be changed and updated while the program is running.

Poplog includes special versions of Common Lisp, POP-11, Prolog, and Standard ML. There's also a separate tool that supports a version of Scheme.

Poplog has been used for both academic research and teaching in artificial intelligence. It has also helped create several commercial products, like Clementine. In 1992, Poplog received another award for exceeding $5 million in sales.

Where Poplog Can Run (Platforms)

Poplog has been able to run on many different types of computers and operating systems over the years.

• Early Days: POP-11 first ran on a DEC PDP-11 computer in 1976. It was then moved to VAX/VMS systems in 1980. Around 1982, it officially became Poplog.
• Sun Computers: From the mid-1980s, much of Poplog's development happened on Sun SPARC computers using the Solaris operating system.
• Other Systems: Different versions were sold for HP-UX and a 64-bit version for DEC Alpha computers running Digital UNIX.
• Open Source Era: After 1999, when Poplog became open-source, most of the work focused on the Linux version. It was also adapted to run on 64-bit Linux. A version for Mac OS X on PowerPC computers was made in 2005.
• Windows: There is a version for Windows. However, some of the graphical features that work on Unix/Linux do not work on Windows Poplog without extra software.

Today, there's an open source project working to make Poplog run even better on different systems, including Windows. This project has added features like a web server for Poplog applications. There's also a specific open-source Poplog project on GitHub for 64-bit computers, which is the basis for Poplog Version 16. You can find more information about it online.

How Poplog Works Inside

The Prolog part of Poplog is built using the special "incremental compiler" of POP-11. POP-11 is the main language of Poplog. It's a general-purpose language that's a bit like Lisp but with a more common way of writing code.

To make Prolog work, the Poplog system had to be updated. This allowed it to handle things specific to Prolog, like how it keeps track of information. A key idea was to let data be shared easily between all the Poplog languages, like POP-11 and Common Lisp. This helps programmers mix different styles of coding.