High performance Prolog on a RISC

This paper presents some benchmark timings from an optimising Prolog compiler using global analysis for a RISC workstation, the MIPS R2030. These results are extremely promising. For example, the infamous naive reverse benchmark runs at 2 mega LIPS. We compare these timings with those for other Prolog implementations running on the same workstation and with published timings for the KCM, a recent piece of special purpose Prolog hardware. The comparison suggests that global analysis is a fruitful source of information for an optimising Prolog compiler and that the performance of special purpose Prolog hardware can be at least matched by the code from a compiler using such information. We include some analysis of the sources of the improvement global analysis yields. An overview of the compiler is given and some implementation issues are discussed. This paper is an extended version of Ref. 15)