41,621 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
Economic modelling using constraint logic programming
This paper investigates the use of constraint logic programming (CLP) in economic modelling
through the design and implementation of two economic models. The first model, the Desai-
Henry model contains only linear equations while the second model, constructed by the author,
contains non-linear elements. In order to implement the second model, a non-linear constraint
solver was constructed. This was necessary because, although CLP is a very powerful
programming paradigm, currently available implementations lack any on-linear constraint
solving mechanisms
Solving Functional Constraints by Variable Substitution
Functional constraints and bi-functional constraints are an important
constraint class in Constraint Programming (CP) systems, in particular for
Constraint Logic Programming (CLP) systems. CP systems with finite domain
constraints usually employ CSP-based solvers which use local consistency, for
example, arc consistency. We introduce a new approach which is based instead on
variable substitution. We obtain efficient algorithms for reducing systems
involving functional and bi-functional constraints together with other
non-functional constraints. It also solves globally any CSP where there exists
a variable such that any other variable is reachable from it through a sequence
of functional constraints. Our experiments on random problems show that
variable elimination can significantly improve the efficiency of solving
problems with functional constraints
A Denotational Semantics for First-Order Logic
In Apt and Bezem [AB99] (see cs.LO/9811017) we provided a computational
interpretation of first-order formulas over arbitrary interpretations. Here we
complement this work by introducing a denotational semantics for first-order
logic. Additionally, by allowing an assignment of a non-ground term to a
variable we introduce in this framework logical variables.
The semantics combines a number of well-known ideas from the areas of
semantics of imperative programming languages and logic programming. In the
resulting computational view conjunction corresponds to sequential composition,
disjunction to ``don't know'' nondeterminism, existential quantification to
declaration of a local variable, and negation to the ``negation as finite
failure'' rule. The soundness result shows correctness of the semantics with
respect to the notion of truth. The proof resembles in some aspects the proof
of the soundness of the SLDNF-resolution.Comment: 17 pages. Invited talk at the Computational Logic Conference (CL
2000). To appear in Springer-Verlag Lecture Notes in Computer Scienc
Towards Parameterized Regular Type Inference Using Set Constraints
We propose a method for inferring \emph{parameterized regular types} for
logic programs as solutions for systems of constraints over sets of finite
ground Herbrand terms (set constraint systems). Such parameterized regular
types generalize \emph{parametric} regular types by extending the scope of the
parameters in the type definitions so that such parameters can relate the types
of different predicates. We propose a number of enhancements to the procedure
for solving the constraint systems that improve the precision of the type
descriptions inferred. The resulting algorithm, together with a procedure to
establish a set constraint system from a logic program, yields a program
analysis that infers tighter safe approximations of the success types of the
program than previous comparable work, offering a new and useful efficiency vs.
precision trade-off. This is supported by experimental results, which show the
feasibility of our analysis
Independence in CLP Languages
Studying independence of goals has proven very useful in the context of logic programming. In particular, it has provided a formal basis for powerful automatic parallelization tools, since independence ensures that two goals may be evaluated in parallel while preserving correctness and eciency. We extend the concept of independence to constraint logic programs (CLP) and
prove that it also ensures the correctness and eciency of the parallel evaluation of independent goals. Independence for CLP languages is more complex than for logic programming as search space preservation is necessary but no longer sucient for ensuring correctness and eciency. Two
additional issues arise. The rst is that the cost of constraint solving may depend upon the order constraints are encountered. The second is the need to handle dynamic scheduling. We clarify these issues by proposing various types of search independence and constraint solver independence, and show how they can be combined to allow dierent optimizations, from parallelism to intelligent
backtracking. Sucient conditions for independence which can be evaluated \a priori" at run-time are also proposed. Our study also yields new insights into independence in logic programming languages. In particular, we show that search space preservation is not only a sucient but also a necessary condition for ensuring correctness and eciency of parallel execution
- …