The autoloader is a new feature to SWI-Prolog. Its aim is to simplify program development and program management. Common lisp has a similar feature, but here the user has to specify which library is to be loaded if a specific function is called which is not defined. The advantage of the SWI-Prolog schema is that the user does not have to specify this. The disadvantage however is that the user might be wondering ``where the hell this predicate comes from''. Only experience can learn whether the functionality of the autoloader is appropriate. Comments are welcome.
The autoloader only works if the unknown flag (see unknown/2)
is set to
trace (default). A more appropriate interaction with this
flag will be considered.