We have implemented a high performance Prolog engine by directly executing in microcode the constructs of Warren's Abstract Machine. The implementation vehicle is the VAX 8600 computer. The VAX 8600 is a general purpose processor containing 8K words of writable control store. In our system, each of the Warren Abstract Machine instructions is implemented as a VAX 8600 machine level instruction. Other Prolog built-ins are either implemented directly in microcode or executed by the general VAX instruction set. Initial results indicate that our system is the fastest implementation of Prolog on a commercially available general purpose processor.
/lp/association-for-computing-machinery/the-implementation-of-prolog-via-vax-8600-microcode-JdCQcmIyLT