Poplog facts for kids

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

This system was first made in the United Kingdom. It was used for teaching and research, especially in artificial intelligence (AI), at the University of Sussex. Later, it became a product sold to companies and schools. Poplog started as a paid program but became free to use in 1999.

How Poplog Started

The Name and Early Growth

Poplog got its name because it combined two programming languages: POP-11 and Prolog. When a way to add Prolog was created, the system was called POPLOG.

Over time, more languages like Common Lisp and Standard ML were added. This made Poplog even more powerful. It became a trademark of the University of Sussex.

From University Project to Commercial Product

After 1983, Poplog was sold around the world. A company called Systems Designers Ltd (SDL) helped sell and support it. The main work on Poplog continued at Sussex University.

Later, a new company called Integral Solutions Ltd (ISL) took over selling Poplog. In 1992, ISL and Sussex University won an award. This award recognized that Poplog had made over $5 million in sales!

Becoming Free for Everyone

ISL used Poplog to create many projects. One very successful project was Clementine, a system for finding patterns in large amounts of data. Clementine was so good that a big company called SPSS Inc. bought ISL in 1998.

SPSS Inc. did not want to sell Poplog itself. So, Poplog became free for everyone to use. It was then hosted at the University of Birmingham, which had also helped develop it. Today, Clementine is known as SPSS Modeler and is owned by IBM.

Languages You Can Use in Poplog

Poplog is built around its main language, POP-11. POP-11 is used to create the tools for all the other languages within Poplog. All these languages are "incrementally compiled." This means they can be changed and tested quickly.

Poplog supports these languages:

• Common Lisp
• POP-11
• Prolog
• Standard ML

There's also a separate version of Scheme that works with Poplog. Poplog has been used for teaching AI and for making many commercial products, not just Clementine.

Where Poplog Works

Early Computers and Operating Systems

POP-11, the core of Poplog, first ran on a DEC PDP-11 computer in 1976. It was then moved to VAX/VMS computers around 1980. Poplog became available for sale on VAX/VMS in 1982.

In the mid-1980s, most of the development happened on Sun SPARC computers using Solaris. Poplog was also sold for other systems like HP-UX and DEC Alpha.

Modern Systems and Open Source

After 1999, when Poplog became free, most of the work focused on the Linux version. It was also made to work on 64-bit Linux computers. A version for Mac OS X was started in 2005.

There is also a version for Microsoft Windows. However, some of the graphics features that work on Linux/Unix do not work on the Windows version without extra software.

Today, there are open-source projects working on Poplog. One project aims to make Poplog work on even more types of computers, including Windows. Another project on GitHub is the basis for Poplog Version 16, hosted at the University of Birmingham.

How Poplog is Built

Poplog's core language, POP-11, is a flexible language similar to Lisp. It has a more common way of writing code. The Prolog part of Poplog is built using POP-11's special "incremental compiler."

This means that Poplog's internal system was changed to support how Prolog works. It was designed so that all the languages in Poplog, like POP-11, Common Lisp, and Prolog, could share information easily. This allows programmers to mix different styles of programming.