[ Advanced Control and Suspensions | Reference Manual | Alphabetic Index ]

call_priority(+Goal, +Priority)

Execute Goal with priority Priority.

Goal: Atom or compound term.
Priority: A small integer.

Description

All goals in ECLiPSe execute under a certain priority. An execution can only be interrupted by the waking of a goal with a higher priority. Priorities are most relevant in data-driven algorithms, to specify that certain goals must do their work before others can meaningfully execute.

Priorities range from 1 (most urgent) to 12 (least urgent). The toplevel goal of an execution always runs at the lowest priority (12).

call_priority/2 runs a goal at a given priority. If this priority is higher than the one under which call_priority was invoked, the goal executes immediately, but will be less interruptable by woken goals. If the specified priority is lower, the execution of goal will be effectively deferred until there are no more urgent goal present.

Note that woken goals automatically execute under their associated run_priority (which is a property of the predicate that is being invoked). This is equivalent to a call_priority/2, therefore call_priority/2 is usually not needed inside woken predicates.

Warning: Although it is possible to write programs that only work correctly under a particular priority ordering, such practice is strongly discouraged. Priorities should only affect efficiency, never correctness.

Modules

This predicate is sensitive to its module context (tool predicate, see @/2).

Fail Conditions

Fails if Goal fails

Resatisfiable

Resatisfiable if Goal is resatisfiable

Exceptions

(4) instantiation fault: Goal or Priority is not instantiated.
(5) type error: Goal is not an atom or a compound term, or Priority is not an integer.
(24) number expected: Priority is not a number.

Examples

    [eclipse 1]: [user].       
     p :- call_priority(writeln(hello),8), writeln(world).

    user       compiled traceable 136 bytes in 0.00 seconds
    yes.
    [eclipse 10]: call_priority(p,5).
    world
    hello
    yes.
    [eclipse 11]: call_priority(p,10).
    hello
    world
    yes.
    [eclipse 12]: call_priority(p,8).
    hello
    world
    yes.