README File for ECCE 1.1
------------------------

ECCE is an automatic partial deduction system for logic programs.


To start using the ECCE system you have to

1. Install Sicstus Prolog (version 3 or higher).

2. Untar (tar -xf) the ecce.tar file.
   This will create a subdirectory named "ecce_source".

3. Open the file "ecce_sicstus.pro" and edit the entry:
ecce_source_directory('/Calvin/Programming/ecce/ecce_source/').
   so that they point to the "ecce_source" directory generated above.
   You can also edit the entry:
ecce_benchmark_directory('/Calvin/Programming/ecce/ecce_benchmarks/').
   to point to a benchmark directory (you should create).

   Then simply load the file "ecce_sicstus.pro" using Sicstus Prolog
    (e.g., using sicstus -l ecce_sicstus.pro from the command line)
   and then type "ecce" to start up the system.
   The first time you use the system you might have to type
   "ecce_recompile" to recompile all the .ql files and the restart
   the system from scratch.


   The most important commands should be "r" to read in source files and put
   them into the internal clause database,
   "c" to clear the internal clause database
   and "p" to partially evaluate an atom (or goal).
   Note that whenever the system requests for input in the style:
	=>@ 
   then you should input a Prolog atom followed by a point.
   To use special characters one has to quote the atom with '.
   For example one can type:
	filename =>@   '~/ecce/test/test'.
   but not
	filename =>@   ~/ecce/test/test.

You can start by testing the system on the file "append-test" in
the following way:
=> r
Type a dot (.) and hit return at the end.
filename (l for ~michael/ecce/test/tests) =>@   'append-test'.
clauses read:   3
clauses stored: 3
=> o
compiling -c+ /tmp/ecce/bimtools/prepost.nocheck.pro
reloaded prepost.nocheck.pro
=> p
Use list notation for goals: [G1,G2].
Type a dot (.) and hit return at the end.
atom or goal (l for true) =>@   doubleapp(X,Y,Z,XYZ).

.....

The specialised program should look more or less like this:

doubleapp(X1,X2,X3,X4) :- 
    doubleapp__1(X1,X2,X3,X4).
doubleapp__1([],X1,X2,X3) :- 
    append__3(X1,X2,X3).
doubleapp__1([X1|X2],X3,X4,[X1|X5]) :- 
    append_conj__2(X2,X3,X4,X5).
append_conj__2([],X1,X2,X3) :- 
    append__3(X1,X2,X3).
append_conj__2([X1|X2],X3,X4,[X1|X5]) :- 
    append_conj__2(X2,X3,X4,X5).
append__3([],X1,X1).
append__3([X1|X2],X3,[X1|X4]) :- 
    append__3(X2,X3,X4).


The current user interface is still a bit rudimentary and there is no
manual yet. E.g. currently it is best to clear the clause database (c)
and read in the file to be specialised (r) before every partial evaluation
(p), as the post-processor will mess with the clause database (and put
part of the specialised program there).


If you have Tcl/Tk installed you can also start the TclTk interface,
by changing to the ecce_source directory and laoding ecce_tcltk.pl.
I.e., on Unix you do something like that:
cd ~/cvs_root/ecce/ecce_source/; sicstus -l ~mal/cvs_root/ecce/ecce_source/ecce_tcltk.pl
On Windows you have to set the working directory to ecce_source and then consult
ecce_tcltk.pl.
Note: there are now also precompiled binaries of Ecce-Light available: you do not need
a SICStus license to run them (but you cannot change the default settings either).
See the webpage for details.


=====
Note: to display the global tree you need gv.
On Mac OS X: be sure to use the right Ghostscript interpreter for gv
(in the State Menu for Ghostscript options I have to change the default
 from gs to /sw/bin/gs to use the right Ghostscript interpreter)
=====

For further information or bug reports you can reach me
as follows:
============================================================
Michael Leuschel (http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~mal)
Declarative Systems and Software Engineering
Department of Electronics and Computer Science
University of Southampton
Highfield, Southampton, SO17 1BJ,  U.K.
Fax: +44 01703 59 3045   Tel: +44 01703 59 3377
E-mail: mal@ecs.soton.ac.uk
============================================================