13.17.1 New Features

• Compiled clauses could previously not be loaded from a ‘.po’ file into an existing multifile, interpreted predicate, or vice versa. This limitation has now been lifted. After loading the ‘.po’ file, the predicate will remain compiled if it was originally compiled and the compiler is available. Otherwise, it will be interpreted.

  Furthermore, in runtime systems with no compiler available, if source code clauses are loaded into an existing, compiled predicate, the predicate will become interpreted.

• CLPFD:
  • full_answer/0 is volatile.
  • automaton/9 takes a new option that provides access to the sequence of counter values.
  • lex_chain/2 takes a new option that enables a more aggressive algorithm.
  • fd_batch/1 is a new exported predicate that posts a set of constraints with propagation suspended until the whole set has been posted.
  • Performance improvements in */2, linear arithmetic, Booleans, membership operations.
  • New example models: Balanced Academic Curriculum Problem, Wolf Goat and Cabbage Problem, Black Hole Patience Game, Open Stacks Problem.
• ZINC:
  • SICStus Prolog has been brought up to date with MiniZinc version 1.4.
  • The default search heuristic has been changed to first-fail, domain splitting.
  • Native support for the following global constraints has been added: among, bin_packing, bin_packing_capa, bin_packing_load, count, distribute, lex_greater, lex_greatereq, regular, sliding_sum, value_precede, value_precede_chain.