The Mercury programming language

Dr. Ralph Becket (University of Melbourne)

CSL SEMINAR SERIES

DATE: 2005-05-26
TIME: 10:30:00 - 11:30:00
LOCATION: RSISE Seminar Room, ground floor, building 115, cnr. North and Daley Roads, ANU
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ABSTRACT:
Logic programming languages have been around for more than twenty years. Despite the expected advantages of a very high level programming language based upon well developed theories of logic over conventional programming languages (such as C, C++, Pascal and Ada) they have not had significant impact on the computer industry.

Mercury is a new logic/functional programming language, which combines the clarity and expressiveness of declarative programming with advanced static analysis and error detection features. Its highly optimized execution algorithm delivers efficiency far in excess of existing logic programming systems, and close to conventional programming systems. Mercury addresses the problems of large-scale program development, allowing modularity, separate compilation, and numerous optimization/time trade-offs.

Mercury has been under continuous development for over twelve years and is a mature, robust system. It is in use in several places around the world, including at least two commercial companies in Australia and Europe.
BIO:
I obtained a BA Hons in Computer Science and PhD in artificial intelligence from the University of Cambridge. I've worked as a researcher for SRI and Microsoft, and for the last four years I've been a research fellow at the University of Melbourne working on Mercury. The current research goal is to investigate ways of extending Mercury to support constraint logic programming (CLP) without compromising Mercury's declarative purity or general efficiency.