On the long run, we want to move to an Integrated Development
Environment (IDE) based on XPCE. Various parts of this
environment already exist and are being used actively.
- PceEmacs is a GNU-Emacs clone in XPCE/Prolog,
providing Prolog syntax-highlighting based on parsing and
cross-referencing the editor-buffer.
Colouring includes variables, quoted entities,
comment, goals (classified as built-in, imported, local, dynamic
and undefined), predicates (classified as local, public and
unreferenced), file-references (classified as existend/non-existend).
PceEmacs is started using the predicate emacs/[0,1].
- The graphical tracer provides source-level debugging,
using three views: your source, variable-bindings and the stack. The
stack view includes choicepoints and visualises the effect of executing
the cut!
- The Execution Profiler provides a graphical
overview of call- and time statistics.
- The Cross Referencer analysis dependencies in the
loaded program and points out undefined and unused code. It can
also generate module headers and import directives based on the
analysis.
- The Prolog Navigator provides an explorer-like
view on a directory holding Prolog sourcefiles.
Sourcesfiles can be expanded in the
tree, showing predicates, exports, XPCE classes and methods. Can
be used to edit entities or enable debugging them (spy).
The Windows Prolog console plwin.exe provides a menu to access
many of these facilities directly.
We intend to allow the user selecting preferred tools and combining them
with whatever they like. In other words, we don't want to force you into
using a bulky all-in-one closed toolkit. See below