User Manual

• Declarative object-oriented programming
• Main features
  • Integration of logic and object-oriented programming
  • Integration of event-driven and object-oriented programming
  • Support for component-based programming
  • Support for both prototype and class-based systems
  • Support for multiple object hierarchies
  • Separation between interface and implementation
  • Private, protected and public inheritance
  • Private, protected and public object predicates
  • Parametric objects
  • High level multi-threading programming support
  • Smooth learning curve
  • Compatibility with most Prolog systems and the ISO standard
  • Performance
  • Logtalk scope
• Nomenclature
  • Prolog nomenclature
  • Smalltalk nomenclature
  • C++ nomenclature
  • Java nomenclature
  • Python nomenclature
• Messages
  • Operators used in message sending
  • Sending a message to an object
  • Delegating a message to an object
  • Sending a message to self
  • Broadcasting
  • Calling imported and inherited predicates
  • Message sending and event generation
  • Sending a message from a module
  • Message sending performance
• Objects
  • Objects, prototypes, classes, and instances
  • Defining a new object
  • Parametric objects
  • Finding defined objects
  • Creating a new object in runtime
  • Abolishing an existing object
  • Object directives
  • Object relationships
  • Object properties
  • Built-in objects
• Protocols
  • Defining a new protocol
  • Finding defined protocols
  • Creating a new protocol in runtime
  • Abolishing an existing protocol
  • Protocol directives
  • Protocol relationships
  • Protocol properties
  • Implementing protocols
  • Built-in protocols
• Categories
  • Defining a new category
  • Hot patching
  • Finding defined categories
  • Creating a new category in runtime
  • Abolishing an existing category
  • Category directives
  • Category relationships
  • Category properties
  • Importing categories
  • Calling category predicates
  • Parametric categories
  • Built-in categories
• Predicates
  • Reserved predicate names
  • Declaring predicates
  • Defining predicates
  • Definite clause grammar rules
  • Built-in methods
  • Predicate properties
  • Finding declared predicates
  • Calling Prolog predicates
  • Defining Prolog multifile predicates
  • Asserting and retracting Prolog predicates
• Inheritance
  • Protocol inheritance
  • Implementation inheritance
  • Public, protected, and private inheritance
  • Multiple inheritance
  • Composition versus multiple inheritance
• Event-driven programming
  • Definitions
  • Event generation
  • Communicating events to monitors
  • Performance concerns
  • Monitor semantics
  • Activation order of monitors
  • Event handling
• Multi-threading programming
  • Enabling multi-threading support
  • Enabling objects to make multi-threading calls
  • Multi-threading built-in predicates
  • One-way asynchronous calls
  • Asynchronous calls and synchronized predicates
  • Synchronizing threads through notifications
  • Threaded engines
  • Multi-threading performance
• Error handling
  • Raising Exceptions
  • Type-checking
  • Expected terms
  • Compiler warnings and errors
  • Runtime errors
• Reflection
  • Structural reflection
  • Behavioral reflection
• Writing and running applications
  • Starting Logtalk
  • Running parallel Logtalk processes
  • Source files
  • Multi-pass compiler
  • Compiling and loading your applications
  • Compiler errors, warnings, and comments
  • Loader files
  • Libraries of source files
  • Settings files
  • Compiler linter
  • Compiler flags
  • Reloading source files
  • Batch processing
  • Optimizing performance
  • Portable applications
  • Conditional compilation
  • Avoiding common errors
  • Coding style guidelines
• Printing messages and asking questions
  • Printing messages
  • Message tokenization
  • Meta-messages
  • Intercepting messages
  • Asking questions
  • Intercepting questions
• Term and goal expansion
  • Defining expansions
  • Expanding grammar rules
  • Bypassing expansions
  • Hook objects
  • Virtual source file terms and loading context
  • Default compiler expansion workflow
  • User defined expansion workflows
  • Using Prolog defined expansions
  • Debugging expansions
• Documenting
  • Documenting directives
  • Processing and viewing documenting files
  • Inline formatting in comments text
  • Diagrams
• Debugging
  • Compiling source files in debug mode
  • Procedure box model
  • Defining spy points
  • Tracing program execution
  • Debugging using spy points
  • Debugging commands
  • Customizing term writing
  • Context-switching calls
  • Debugging messages
  • Using the term-expansion mechanism for debugging
  • Ports profiling
  • Debug and trace events
• Performance
  • Source code compilation modes
  • Local predicate calls
  • Calls to imported or inherited predicates
  • Calls to module predicates
  • Messages
  • Automatic expansion of built-in meta-predicates
  • Inlining
  • Generated code simplification and optimizations
  • Size of the generated code
  • Debug mode overhead
  • Other considerations
• Installing Logtalk
  • Hardware and software requirements
  • Logtalk installers
  • Source distribution
  • Distribution overview
• Prolog integration and migration
  • Source files with both Prolog code and Logtalk code
  • Encapsulating plain Prolog code in objects
  • Converting Prolog modules into objects
  • Compiling Prolog modules as objects
  • Dealing with proprietary Prolog directives and predicates
  • Calling Prolog module predicates
  • Loading converted Prolog applications