41,522 research outputs found
Semantics of Horn and disjunctive logic programs
AbstractVan Emden and Kowalski proposed a fixpoint semantics based on model-theory and an operational semantics based on proof-theory for Horn logic programs. They prove the equivalence of these semantics using fixpoint techniques. The main goal of this paper is to present a unified theory for the semantics of Horn and disjunctive logic programs. For this, we extend the fixpoint semantics and the operational or procedural semantics to the class of disjunctive logic programs and prove their equivalence using techniques similar to the ones used for Horn programs
Proving Correctness and Completeness of Normal Programs - a Declarative Approach
We advocate a declarative approach to proving properties of logic programs.
Total correctness can be separated into correctness, completeness and clean
termination; the latter includes non-floundering. Only clean termination
depends on the operational semantics, in particular on the selection rule. We
show how to deal with correctness and completeness in a declarative way,
treating programs only from the logical point of view. Specifications used in
this approach are interpretations (or theories). We point out that
specifications for correctness may differ from those for completeness, as
usually there are answers which are neither considered erroneous nor required
to be computed.
We present proof methods for correctness and completeness for definite
programs and generalize them to normal programs. For normal programs we use the
3-valued completion semantics; this is a standard semantics corresponding to
negation as finite failure. The proof methods employ solely the classical
2-valued logic. We use a 2-valued characterization of the 3-valued completion
semantics which may be of separate interest. The presented methods are compared
with an approach based on operational semantics. We also employ the ideas of
this work to generalize a known method of proving termination of normal
programs.Comment: To appear in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming (TPLP). 44
page
Possibilistic Nested Logic Programs
We introduce the class of possibilistic nested logic programs. These possibilistic logic programs allow us to use nested expressions in the bodies and the heads of their rules. By considering a
possibilistic nested logic program as a possibilistic theory, a construction of a possibilistic logic programing semantics based on answer sets for nested logic programs and the proof theory of
possibilistic logic is defined. We show that this new semantics for possibilistic logic programs is computable by means of transforming possibilistic nested logic programs into possibilistic disjunctive logic programs. The expressiveness of the possibilistic nested logic programs is illustrated by scenarios from the medical domain. In particular, we exemplify how possibilistic nested logic programs are expressive enough for capturing medical guidelines which are pervaded of vagueness and qualitative information
A Parameterised Hierarchy of Argumentation Semantics for Extended Logic Programming and its Application to the Well-founded Semantics
Argumentation has proved a useful tool in defining formal semantics for
assumption-based reasoning by viewing a proof as a process in which proponents
and opponents attack each others arguments by undercuts (attack to an
argument's premise) and rebuts (attack to an argument's conclusion). In this
paper, we formulate a variety of notions of attack for extended logic programs
from combinations of undercuts and rebuts and define a general hierarchy of
argumentation semantics parameterised by the notions of attack chosen by
proponent and opponent. We prove the equivalence and subset relationships
between the semantics and examine some essential properties concerning
consistency and the coherence principle, which relates default negation and
explicit negation. Most significantly, we place existing semantics put forward
in the literature in our hierarchy and identify a particular argumentation
semantics for which we prove equivalence to the paraconsistent well-founded
semantics with explicit negation, WFSX. Finally, we present a general proof
theory, based on dialogue trees, and show that it is sound and complete with
respect to the argumentation semantics.Comment: To appear in Theory and Practice of Logic Programmin
Global semantic typing for inductive and coinductive computing
Inductive and coinductive types are commonly construed as ontological
(Church-style) types, denoting canonical data-sets such as natural numbers,
lists, and streams. For various purposes, notably the study of programs in the
context of global semantics, it is preferable to think of types as semantical
properties (Curry-style). Intrinsic theories were introduced in the late 1990s
to provide a purely logical framework for reasoning about programs and their
semantic types. We extend them here to data given by any combination of
inductive and coinductive definitions. This approach is of interest because it
fits tightly with syntactic, semantic, and proof theoretic fundamentals of
formal logic, with potential applications in implicit computational complexity
as well as extraction of programs from proofs. We prove a Canonicity Theorem,
showing that the global definition of program typing, via the usual (Tarskian)
semantics of first-order logic, agrees with their operational semantics in the
intended model. Finally, we show that every intrinsic theory is interpretable
in a conservative extension of first-order arithmetic. This means that
quantification over infinite data objects does not lead, on its own, to
proof-theoretic strength beyond that of Peano Arithmetic. Intrinsic theories
are perfectly amenable to formulas-as-types Curry-Howard morphisms, and were
used to characterize major computational complexity classes Their extensions
described here have similar potential which has already been applied
Transition Systems for Model Generators - A Unifying Approach
A fundamental task for propositional logic is to compute models of
propositional formulas. Programs developed for this task are called
satisfiability solvers. We show that transition systems introduced by
Nieuwenhuis, Oliveras, and Tinelli to model and analyze satisfiability solvers
can be adapted for solvers developed for two other propositional formalisms:
logic programming under the answer-set semantics, and the logic PC(ID). We show
that in each case the task of computing models can be seen as "satisfiability
modulo answer-set programming," where the goal is to find a model of a theory
that also is an answer set of a certain program. The unifying perspective we
develop shows, in particular, that solvers CLASP and MINISATID are closely
related despite being developed for different formalisms, one for answer-set
programming and the latter for the logic PC(ID).Comment: 30 pages; Accepted for presentation at ICLP 2011 and for publication
in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming; contains the appendix with
proof
Abstractions in Logic Programs
Most logic programming languages have the first-order, classical theory of Horn clauses as their logical foundation. Purely proof-theoretical considerations show that Horn clauses are not rich enough to naturally provide the abstraction mechanisms that are common in most modern, general purpose programming languages. For example, Horn clauses do not incorporate the important software abstraction mechanisms of modules, data type abstractions, and higher-order programming.
As a result of this lack, implementers of logic programming languages based on Horn clauses generally add several nonlogical primitives on top of Horn clauses to provide these missing abstraction mechanisms. Although the missing features are often captured in this fashion, formal semantics of the resulting languages are often lacking or are very complex. Another approach to providing these missing features is to enrich the underlying logical foundation of logic programming. This latter approach to providing logic programs with these missing abstraction mechanisms is taken in this paper. The enrichments we will consider have simple and direct operational and proof theoretical semantics
Semantics for possibilistic disjunctive programs
We define a possibilistic disjunctive logic programming approach for modeling uncertain, incomplete and inconsistent information. This approach introduces the use of possibilistic disjunctive clauses which are able to capture incomplete information and incomplete states of a knowledge base at the same time. This approach is computable and moreover allows encoding uncertain information by using either numerical values or relative likelihoods. In order to define the semantics of the possibilistic disjunctive programs, three approaches are defined: 1.- The first is strictly close to the proof theory of possibilistic logic and answer set models; 2.- The second is based on partial evaluation, a fix-point operator and answer set models; and 3.- The last is also based on the proof theory of possibilistic logic and pstable semantics. In order to manage inconsistent possibilistic logic programs, a preference criterion between inconsistent possibilistic models is defined; in addition, the approach of cuts for restoring consistency of an inconsistent possibilistic knowledge base is adopted. The approach is illustrated by a medical scenario.Postprint (published version
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