1,583 research outputs found
Logic Programming as Constructivism
The features of logic programming that
seem unconventional from the viewpoint of classical logic
can be explained in terms of constructivistic logic. We
motivate and propose a constructivistic proof theory of
non-Horn logic programming. Then, we apply this formalization
for establishing results of practical interest.
First, we show that 'stratification can be motivated in a
simple and intuitive way. Relying on similar motivations,
we introduce the larger classes of 'loosely stratified' and
'constructively consistent' programs. Second, we give a
formal basis for introducing quantifiers into queries and
logic programs by defining 'constructively domain
independent* formulas. Third, we extend the Generalized
Magic Sets procedure to loosely stratified and constructively
consistent programs, by relying on a 'conditional
fixpoini procedure
Hybrid Rules with Well-Founded Semantics
A general framework is proposed for integration of rules and external first
order theories. It is based on the well-founded semantics of normal logic
programs and inspired by ideas of Constraint Logic Programming (CLP) and
constructive negation for logic programs. Hybrid rules are normal clauses
extended with constraints in the bodies; constraints are certain formulae in
the language of the external theory. A hybrid program is a pair of a set of
hybrid rules and an external theory. Instances of the framework are obtained by
specifying the class of external theories, and the class of constraints. An
example instance is integration of (non-disjunctive) Datalog with ontologies
formalized as description logics.
The paper defines a declarative semantics of hybrid programs and a
goal-driven formal operational semantics. The latter can be seen as a
generalization of SLS-resolution. It provides a basis for hybrid
implementations combining Prolog with constraint solvers. Soundness of the
operational semantics is proven. Sufficient conditions for decidability of the
declarative semantics, and for completeness of the operational semantics are
given
Abduction in Well-Founded Semantics and Generalized Stable Models
Abductive logic programming offers a formalism to declaratively express and
solve problems in areas such as diagnosis, planning, belief revision and
hypothetical reasoning. Tabled logic programming offers a computational
mechanism that provides a level of declarativity superior to that of Prolog,
and which has supported successful applications in fields such as parsing,
program analysis, and model checking. In this paper we show how to use tabled
logic programming to evaluate queries to abductive frameworks with integrity
constraints when these frameworks contain both default and explicit negation.
The result is the ability to compute abduction over well-founded semantics with
explicit negation and answer sets. Our approach consists of a transformation
and an evaluation method. The transformation adjoins to each objective literal
in a program, an objective literal along with rules that ensure
that will be true if and only if is false. We call the resulting
program a {\em dual} program. The evaluation method, \wfsmeth, then operates on
the dual program. \wfsmeth{} is sound and complete for evaluating queries to
abductive frameworks whose entailment method is based on either the
well-founded semantics with explicit negation, or on answer sets. Further,
\wfsmeth{} is asymptotically as efficient as any known method for either class
of problems. In addition, when abduction is not desired, \wfsmeth{} operating
on a dual program provides a novel tabling method for evaluating queries to
ground extended programs whose complexity and termination properties are
similar to those of the best tabling methods for the well-founded semantics. A
publicly available meta-interpreter has been developed for \wfsmeth{} using the
XSB system.Comment: 48 pages; To appear in Theory and Practice in Logic Programmin
Constrained Query Answering
Traditional answering methods evaluate queries only against positive
and definite knowledge expressed by means of facts and deduction rules. They do
not make use of negative, disjunctive or existential information. Negative or indefinite
knowledge is however often available in knowledge base systems, either as
design requirements, or as observed properties. Such knowledge can serve to rule out
unproductive subexpressions during query answering. In this article, we propose an
approach for constraining any conventional query answering procedure with general,
possibly negative or indefinite formulas, so as to discard impossible cases and to
avoid redundant evaluations. This approach does not impose additional conditions
on the positive and definite knowledge, nor does it assume any particular semantics
for negation. It adopts that of the conventional query answering procedure it
constrains. This is achieved by relying on meta-interpretation for specifying the
constraining process. The soundness, completeness, and termination of the underlying
query answering procedure are not compromised. Constrained query answering
can be applied for answering queries more efficiently as well as for generating more
informative, intensional answers
Super Logic Programs
The Autoepistemic Logic of Knowledge and Belief (AELB) is a powerful
nonmonotic formalism introduced by Teodor Przymusinski in 1994. In this paper,
we specialize it to a class of theories called `super logic programs'. We argue
that these programs form a natural generalization of standard logic programs.
In particular, they allow disjunctions and default negation of arbibrary
positive objective formulas.
Our main results are two new and powerful characterizations of the static
semant ics of these programs, one syntactic, and one model-theoretic. The
syntactic fixed point characterization is much simpler than the fixed point
construction of the static semantics for arbitrary AELB theories. The
model-theoretic characterization via Kripke models allows one to construct
finite representations of the inherently infinite static expansions.
Both characterizations can be used as the basis of algorithms for query
answering under the static semantics. We describe a query-answering interpreter
for super programs which we developed based on the model-theoretic
characterization and which is available on the web.Comment: 47 pages, revised version of the paper submitted 10/200
The -semantics approach; theory and applications
AbstractThis paper is a general overview of an approach to the semantics of logic programs whose aim is to find notions of models which really capture the operational semantics, and are, therefore, useful for defining program equivalences and for semantics-based program analysis. The approach leads to the introduction of extended interpretations which are more expressive than Herbrand interpretations. The semantics in terms of extended interpretations can be obtained as a result of both an operational (top-down) and a fixpoint (bottom-up) construction. It can also be characterized from the model-theoretic viewpoint, by defining a set of extended models which contains standard Herbrand models. We discuss the original construction modeling computed answer substitutions, its compositional version, and various semantics modeling more concrete observables. We then show how the approach can be applied to several extensions of positive logic programs. We finally consider some applications, mainly in the area of semantics-based program transformation and analysis
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