docs/03-reference.markdown @ ba205f6b2875
Excise the stupid fucking `set-*` opcodes The book uses the horribly-confusingly-named `set-*` operations for handling subterms in query mode. The author does this because he claims this is both easier to understand and more performant. In reality it is neither of these things. If you just name the subterm-handling opcodes something not completely stupid, like `handle-subterm-*` instead of `unify-*` it becomes obvious what they do. Also, despite the fact that `put-*` instructions now need to set the WAM's `mode`, we still get about a 10% speedup here, likely from some combination of reducing the VM loop code size and simplifying the compilation process. So it's not even more performant. TL;DR: Just say "No" to `set-*`.
| author | Steve Losh <steve@stevelosh.com> |
|---|---|
| date | Sun, 10 Jul 2016 14:21:18 +0000 |
| parents | dfba7d90a8a5 |
| children | 66c01894e34c |
# API Reference The following is a list of all user-facing parts of Bones. If there are backwards-incompatible changes to anything listed here, they will be noted in the changelog and the author will feel bad. Anything not listed here is subject to change at any time with no warning, so don't touch it. [TOC] ## Package `BONES.PAIP` Test? ### `*CHECK-OCCURS*` (variable) Whether to perform an occurs check. ### `CLEAR-DB` (function) (CLEAR-DB) ### `FACT` (macro) (FACT &REST BODY) ### `FAIL` (variable) Failure to unify ### `NO-BINDINGS` (variable) A succesful unification, with no bindings. ### `QUERY` (macro) (QUERY &REST GOALS) Perform the query interactively. ### `QUERY-ALL` (macro) (QUERY-ALL &REST GOALS) Perform the query and automatically show all results. ### `QUERY-ONE` (macro) (QUERY-ONE &REST GOALS) Perform the query and just show the first result. ### `RETURN-ALL` (macro) (RETURN-ALL &REST GOALS) ### `RETURN-ONE` (macro) (RETURN-ONE &REST GOALS) ### `RULE` (macro) (RULE &REST CLAUSE) ### `UNIFY` (function) (UNIFY X Y &OPTIONAL (BINDINGS NO-BINDINGS)) Unify the two terms and return bindings necessary to do so (or FAIL).