Another important efficiency feature of Quintus Prolog is last call optimization. This is a space optimization technique, which applies when a predicate is determinate at the point where it is about to call the last goal in the body of a clause. For example,
% for(Int, Lower, Upper)
% Lower and Upper should be integers such that Lower =< Upper.
% Int should be uninstantiated; it will be bound successively on
% backtracking to Lower, Lower+1, ... Upper.
for(Int, Int, _Upper).
for(Int, Lower, Upper) :-
Lower < Upper,
Next is Lower + 1,
for(Int, Next, Upper).
This predicate is determinate at the point where the recursive call is
about to be made, since this is the last clause and the preceding goals
(</2 and is/2) are determinate. Thus last call
optimization can be applied; effectively, the stack space being used
for the current predicate call is reclaimed before the recursive call is
made. This means that this predicate uses only a constant amount of space,
no matter how deep the recursion.