11.1.1 Overview

The reference pages for SICStus Prolog built-in predicates conform to certain conventions concerning

• mode annotations
• predicate annotations
• argument types

These are particularly important in utilizing the Synopsis and Arguments fields of each reference page. The Synopsis field consists of the goal template(s) with mode annotations and a brief description of the purpose of the predicate. For example, consider this excerpt from the reference page for assert/[1,2]:

Synopsis

These predicates add a dynamic clause, Clause, to the Prolog database. They optionally return a database reference in Ref:

assert(+Clause)

assert(+Clause, -Ref)

It is undefined whether Clause will precede or follow the clauses already in the database.

The Arguments field lists, for each meta-variable name in the template, its argument type, (e.g. callable), a brief description (sometimes omitted), and an indication (‘:’) if it does module name expansion. For example,

Arguments

:Clause

callable A valid dynamic Prolog clause.

Ref

db_reference a database reference, which uniquely identifies the newly asserted Clause.