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To
the Reader This book is a doorway to a radically new programming
language based on nearly a decade of research into functional programming
design. In technical terms
Qi offers efficient pattern-matching, chronological backtracking, optional static typing and an approach to defining
types that is in many ways more advanced than any programming language
currently available.
Translated into simple terms, Qi will help you build shorter, more
reliable and more readable programs; it will save you time and it will save
you from making errors. Qi is licenced under the GNU licence; this means that
there is no charge for using Qi.[1][1] Moreover Qi is based on and written in one of the
oldest and most versatile programming languages - Lisp. This means that Qi will run on
virtually any existing processor that you can name; Intel, Motorola, Athlon,
ARM, … and virtually any operating system; Windows (’95, ’98, 2000, ME, XP or
NT), Linux, UNIX or
Solaris. Qi provides excellent
communications to the underlying Lisp; you will have access through Qi to the
world of Lisp packages and environments; object-oriented programming through
CLOS, graphical interface management through CLIM and statistical and
numerical analysis through LispStat. Qi excels in producing type-secure Common Lisp programs
from compact and clear Qi source.
Qi offers the option of static type checking in the spirit of ML and
related languages, but with far more flexibility. You can extend the type system of Qi to incorporate any
part of Lisp that can sustain type checking. Qi is based on a new approach to type checking in which
types are defined in a logic-based way that is clear, easy to understand and
modify. Using
sophisticated compilation techniques, Qi reduces these rules to machine code
and applies them at high speed.
Through Qi you can learn to use this same mechanism to devise
reasoning systems of many kinds, from semantic nets to logic-based reasoning
engines, expert systems and intelligent agents that will
run at hundreds of thousands of rules per second. This book is aimed at making you proficient in Qi. Having mastered this book, with the
help of the pointers provided, you will be in a position to develop
sophisticated reasoning programs in a fraction of the time needed to develop
them in many other languages. If you are an active worker in the
field of AI (Artificial Intelligence) then Qi will provide you with a
powerful tool for rapidly prototyping your ideas. All the programs in this book are available from the
Web and they are cited with an 0 indicating the path to the relevant program. Finally, if all the above jargon means nothing to you,
then whatever your background, Qi will provide a medium through which
you can cometo understand something of the fascinating world of
programming. Everything is
supplied except curiosity. That
depends on you. |
[2][1]
Qi can be downloaded from www.lambdassociates.org.