Compiling and loading

A program needs be first compiled before being loaded into the system for execution. To compile a program in a file named fileName, type

      compile(fileName).

If the file name has the extension pl, then the extension can be omitted. The compiled byte-code will be stored in a new file with the same primary name and the extension out. To have the byte-code stored in a designated file, use

      compile(fileName,byteFileName).

As an extension, compile/1 accepts a list of file names.

To load a compiled byte-code program, type

      load(fileName).

To compile and load a program in one step, use

      cl(fileName).

As an extension, both load/1 and cl/1 accept a list of file names.

Sometimes, you want to compile a program generated by another program. You can save the program into a file and then use compile or cl to compile it. As file input and output take time, the following predicate is provided to compile a program without saving it into a file:

      compile_clauses(L).

where L must be a list of clauses to be compiled.