  When developing a (web) interface for a deductive database, functionality
required by the client is provided by means of HTTP handlers that wrap the
logical data access predicates. These handlers are responsible for converting
between client and server data representations and typically include options
for paginating results. Designing the web accessible API is difficult because
it is hard to predict the exact requirements of clients. Pengines changes this
picture. The client provides a Prolog program that selects the required data by
accessing the logical API of the server. The pengine infrastructure provides
general mechanisms for converting Prolog data and handling Prolog
non-determinism. The Pengines library is small (2000 lines Prolog, 150 lines
JavaScript). It greatly simplifies defining an AJAX based client for a Prolog
program and provides non-deterministic RPC between Prolog processes as well as
interaction with Prolog engines similar to Paul Tarau's engines. Pengines are
available as a standard package for SWI-Prolog 7.
