Is there a way to automatically "consult" files on prolog?

Question

I am kind of annoyed by having to manually re-consult my prolog every time I made changes in its source file.

Can I make it run automatically somehow? I have searched for some extensions on vscode IDE, but could not come to a solution. Any ideas or scripts?

In SWI Prolog, query `?- help(editreload).` particularly the third bit "3.3.2 Editing and incremental compilation". — TessellatingHeckler, Aug 12 '23 at 23:24

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 13 '23 at 18:37

1

Just say make in SWI. Similar functionality is available for SICStus.

answered Aug 13 '23 at 18:37

false

https://www.swi-prolog.org/pldoc/man?predicate=make/0 is a different operation to https://www.swi-prolog.org/pldoc/man?predicate=consult/1 – brebs Aug 14 '23 at 08:19
1

@brebs it might be that OP meant the question in the way this answer approaches it – TA_intern Aug 14 '23 at 11:22
@brebs: when would there be a notable difference to OP? `consult/1` always consults, even if nothing changed. Is this the difference you are referring to? – false Aug 14 '23 at 15:21
`make` reloads (and shows code warnings for, if applicable) *all* loaded files (including e.g. `~/.config/swi-prolog/init.pl` for swi-prolog), whereas the user might only intend to reload a single file, if performing finely-grained debugging. – brebs Aug 14 '23 at 15:33
So `ensure_loaded/1` as defined in SICStus would be the ideal for you. That is, only reload if things changed in the meantime. – false Aug 14 '23 at 16:00

score -1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 13 '23 at 06:14

-1

As a little helper to minimize the inconvenience, could add a tiny predicate to the start of your script file, as a shortcut to call consult, e.g.:

c :-
    % Reload 'clumped2.pl' with just: c.
    consult('clumped2').

Then, to reload:

c.

answered Aug 13 '23 at 06:14

brebs

2 Answers2