Design of the kernel language for the Parallel Inference Machine

We review the design of the concurrent logic language GHC,the basis of the kernel language for the Parallel Inference Machine being developed in the Japanese Fifth Generation Computer Systems project, and the design of the parallel language KL1, the actual kernel language being implemented and used. The key idea in the design of these languages is the separation of concurrency and parallelism. Clarification of concepts of this kind seems to play an important role in bridging the gap between parallel inference systems and knowledge information processing in a coherent manner. In particular, design of a new kernel language has always encouraged us to re-examine and reorganise various existing notions related to programming and to invent new ones.