A LP UNIX?

Appeared in Volume 10/2, May 1996

I've always been a UNIX person - I like using vi, grep, and other assorted briefly-named commands. However, the computing culture of my new department is heavily Windows oriented. It's lonely being (almost) the only local UNIX user, but it's a feeling that I'm already familiar with by being involved in LP.

There's a strange sense of deja vu when students criticise UNIX as being old fashioned and not as 'real' as Windows. Previously, I've heard the same comments made about LP (actually Prolog, LP being way too abstract, theoretical, and irrelevant to the coding of Windows).

My defense of UNIX is also strangely similar to my support for Prolog. For UNIX, I point to X-Windows (using a mouse of course), and show off my ineptitude at playing games. I also mention the graphical, high-powered word processing, accounting, database, and engineering analysis tools available for UNIX (none of which I have actually seen due to their prohibitive cost). In LP/Prolog mode, I talk proudly of the Prolog 1000, mention LP's use for scheduling at Singapore airport, and for engineering tasks at Boeing (not quite sure what tasks, but they probably save millions). The kids are unimpressed because they can respond with 10 good C++ examples for each one coded in Prolog.

In any case, they already know what UNIX / LP is really all about from glancing at the pictures in the set text. Most UNIX books explain how to edit a text file, sort a list, and (heights of excitement) send e-mail. In the Windows world, text files pale against the weighty variety of files stuffed with pictures, sounds, and animations. And who needs to sort lists? Prolog texts offer a similar scintillating prospect, with the family database (often of a biblical persuasion for some reason), append/3, and the mind-bending (or is that mind-numbing?) eliza. append/3 seems ridiculous at best when competing against C++ code for flying the space shuttle, coordinating international financial institutions, and playing Doom.

I use to think that a more practically-minded Prolog text, with examples drawn from engineering and science, would solve the problem. Unfortunately, the kids here also think C is boring and useless, and they learn it from a text called something like "Windows-based C Programming for Engineers".

I'm coming to the conclusion that the fondness (or otherwise) for a programming language or paradigm is like choosing a pair of trousers. We should go for something that fits the system requirements (e.g. room for expansion in the belt region), but we invariably decide by looking at the packaging and brand name. Yes, we need a McDonald's Big Mac Prolog.

Andrew Davison