How to invent a Prolog machine

In this paper we study the compilation of Prolog by making visible hidden operations (especially unification), and then optimizing them using well-known partial evaluation techniques. Inspection of straightforward partially evaluated unification algorithms gives an idea how to design special abstract machine instructions which later form the target language of our compilation. We handle typical compiler problems like representation of terms explicitly. This work gives a logical reconstruction of abstract Prolog machine code, and represents an approach of constructing a correct compiler from Prolog to such a code. As an example, we are explaining the unification principles of Warren’s New Prolog Engine within our framework.