Picat is a rule-based language, in which predicates, functions, and actors are defined with pattern-matching rules. Picat incorporates many declarative language features for better productivity of software development, including explicit non-determinism, explicit unification, functions, list comprehensions, constraints, and tabling. Picat also provides imperative language constructs, such as assignments and loops, for programming everyday things. The Picat implementation, which is based on a well-designed virtual machine and incorporates a memory manager that garbage-collects and expands the stacks and data areas when needed, is efficient and scalable. Picat can be used for not only symbolic computations, which is a traditional application domain of declarative languages, but also for scripting and modeling tasks.
Last modified 15 November 2020