PowerLoom 4.0.0.beta now available

Dear PowerLoom Users,

PowerLoom 4.0.0.beta is now available from our download page at

  http://www.isi.edu/isd/LOOM/PowerLoom/download.html

The biggest changes from the latest PowerLoom snapshot are that now both the
Java-based PowerLoom GUI and the Ontosaurus KB browser are standardly included
with each PowerLoom release.  To try the GUI, simply lauch PowerLoom with the
--gui option:

  % ./powerloom --gui

This requires Java JDK 1.6 or later and is supported for both Linux, MacOS-X and
Windows.

To try Ontosaurus, start PowerLoom and then execute the following command:

  PL-USER |= (start-ontosaurus)

Once it is up and running, you can point your browser to

  http://localhost:9090/ploom/ontosaurus/

to browse KBs.  See the manual for more documentation on the GUI and
Ontosaurus.  Both the GUI and Ontosaurus rely on a PowerLoom backend HTTP
server which is currently supported in Java and certain Lisp versions that
support a Web server (such as Allegro CL).

Additional changes are summarized in the release notes below.

Enjoy,

Your PowerLoom development team


PowerLoom 4.0.0.beta Release Notes

General:
- now includes Java-based PowerLoom GUI
- now includes Ontosaurus KB browser
- now ships with PowerLoom HTTP server backend which is available in
  Java and certain Lisps and which can be installed as a Tomcat Webapp
- now includes simple SOAP API to invoke PowerLoom commands remotely
- extended recording of inference justifications for forward inference
  and materialized queries (`assert-from-query') for improved explanation
- new support for long integer constants in KIF
- various new command line options, use `powerloom --help' to list
  them all
- many bug fixes

PowerLoom commands:
- `retrieve' takes a variety of new options such as :sort-by to sort
  retrieved results, :all-proofs? to force the generation of all
  proofs for a query and :check-variables? to force checking of
  correspondence between unbound query variables and output
  variables.  `retrieve' now existentially quantifies any open
  variables not listed as an output variable which is convenient for
  large queries with only a small number of output variables.  The
  check-variables? option can be used in case the user wants to check
  the exact correspondence of open and output variables.
- `assert-from-query' now takes a :record-justifications? option in
  case the user wants to record justifications for each asserted result.
- `all-facts-of' now accepts function terms
- new `print-facts' command which is similar to `all-facts-of' but
  prints its results a bit more readably
- new `start-powerloom-server', `stop-powerloom-server', `start-ontosaurus',
  `stop-ontosaurus', `start-powerloom-gui',  `stop-powerloom-gui'
  commands to control the PowerLoom server, Ontosaurus and the GUI.
- new `load-directory' and `load-cmd-line-files' to load all PowerLoom
  files in a directory or listed on the command line.
- STELLA functions `push-world' and `pop-world' are now commands that
  can be called to introduce anonymous hypothetical worlds in PowerLoom

PL-KERNEL-KB built-ins:
- new accessors `proposition-relation', `proposition-argument',
  `proposition-arguments' and `proposition-arity' to deconstruct
  propositions.
- new inference level control relations `assertion-query',
  `shallow-query', `subsumption-query', `backtracking-query',
  `normal-query' and `refutation-query'.  These are more efficient than
  calling `query' for this, since they don't involve the construction of
  a full-fledged query iterator.
- new collection relations `collect-into-list',
  `collect-into-ordered-set', `collect-into-ascending-set' and
  `collect-into-descending-set'.
- new generic collection accessors `minimum-element' and
  `maximum-element' that find the min or max in a collection of elements
  based on an arbitrary sort-by relation.
- new `first-element', `second-element', `third-element',
  `fourth-element', `fifth-element', `nth-element', `nth-head',
  `nth-rest', `insert-element' and `list-concatenate' for list access
  and de/construction.
- `absolute-value' and `negate' are now functions.
- generalized `string-concatenate' to use a variable number of
  arguments and to automatically coerce them to strings;  this is very
  useful for creating names on the fly.
- `name-to-object' now coerces its name argument to a string.
- `different' now properly handles `(not (different ...))'

STELLA updates:
- now uses STELLA 3.5.20

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PowerLoom home page:                 http://www.isi.edu/isd/LOOM/PowerLoom
PowerLoom forum:                                   [email protected]
PowerLoom request line:                      [email protected]
KOJAK home page:                         http://www.isi.edu/isd/LOOM/kojak
STELLA home page:                       http://www.isi.edu/isd/LOOM/Stella
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