Poplog

Poplog is a multi-language programming environment which includes amongst its many features:

The languages Pop-11, ML, Common LISP (including CLOS), and Prolog.
The ability to write mixed-language programs.
Incremental compilation.
A fully customisable text editor (VED) with multi-font capabilities.
A comprehensive X interface including:
- Athena, Motif, and OLIT widget set support.
- A custom Poplog widget set including a neat text-editing widget, and an easy to use graphics widget.
- Graph drawing.
- Turtle graphics.
- High-level support for creating dialog-box based applications.
- A multi-window X based implementation of VED (XVed).
Complete on-line hypertext documentation for the system, along with extensive tutorials.

Poplog has been around since 1980's and has been used extensively in industry and academia. The following is a very small sample of some of the systems Poplog has been used to develop:

Poplog-Neural - a system for experimenting with neural-networks.
Poplog-Flex - an environment for the development of expert systems.
Poplog-DB - a family of relational database interfaces.
Poplog-Rules - a powerful rule-induction system.
HiPWorks - an advanced tool for creating multimedia applications with Poplog.
Blocks World - an interactive introduction to OOD and AI.
POPBUGS - an ALife exploration package.
Clementine - an advanced system for data-mining.
INTEGRAM a simple mouse-driven generator for three-dimensional SIRDS images (also called "Magic Eye images" or "intergrams").
The User Interface Design Environment (UIDE).
Ray-Tracing in Pop-11.
The Magnetic Resonance Tutor Project.
PLINTH (The Platform for Intelligent Hypertext).
CORECT (Collaborative Requirements Capture Tool).
The Writer's Assistant project.
An interface to the Mosaic W3 browser.
Some Poplog extensions from Birmingham including an NNTP news reader, a mailer, a production system environment, and various teaching materials. Check out the README file for more details.
Sussex Computer Vision Teach Files.
Steve Knight uses Poplog for writing W3 server scripts.
The SIM_AGENT package used for exploring architectural design requirements for intelligent human-like agents.
Pop-11 was used to experiment with automating the various rules and decisions involved in Knowledge-Based Segmentation of Hand-Wrist Radiographs.
... and many, many, more ...

(If there are any Poplog/Pop-11 users out there who would like something they've developed to appear on the above list, please get in contact with me)

You may also find the following articles of interest:

Benedict du Boulay, Mark Elsom-Cook, Tom Khabaza and Josie Taylor: POPLOG and the learner: An artificial Intelligence programming environment used in education : CSRP 056.
Steven Hardy : The POPLOG programming system : CSRP 003.
Adrian Howard, X in the Poplog Programming Environment, PLUG Newsletter 1992, #1.
Ian Rogers : Embedding X into the Poplog environment : CSRP 171
Robert M. Smith : A high performance version of the POPLOG virtual machine: reports 1 & 2 : CSRP 117.
Robert Smith, Aaron Sloman and John Gibson : POPLOG's Two-level Virtual Machine Support for Interactive Languages : CSRP 153
Rodrigues, M., A Poplog visual programming environment for modelling dynamic systems behaviour, British Computer Science ESG Conference, Cambridge. 1993.
Some references on Pop-11.

Those interested in examining the Poplog documentation should take a look at the rather nice Poplog Online produced by Anthony Worrall.

Poplog runs on practically any Unix machine (including Linux), and a Windows version is under development. For more information about Poplog visit www.poplog.org

Oh yes, the author of this page worked for Poplog for two years - so read the above with appropriate levels of bias.

Adrian Howard (adrianh@cogs.susx.ac.uk)