scholarly journals Truth versus information in logic programming

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 803-840 ◽  
Author(s):  
LEE NAISH ◽  
HARALD SØNDERGAARD
Keyword(s):  
Logic Programming ◽  
Program Analysis ◽  
Logic Program ◽  
Logic Programs ◽  
Intended Meaning ◽  
Truth Values ◽  
The Third ◽  
Multiple Valued Logic ◽  
Truth Value ◽  
Semantics Of Logic Programs

AbstractThe semantics of logic programs was originally described in terms of two-valued logic. Soon, however, it was realised that three-valued logic had some natural advantages, as it provides distinct values not only for truth and falsehood but also for “undefined”. The three-valued semantics proposed by Fitting (Fitting, M. 1985. A Kripke–Kleene semantics for logic programs. Journal of Logic Programming 2, 4, 295–312) and Kunen (Kunen, K. 1987. Negation in logic programming. Journal of Logic Programming 4, 4, 289–308) are closely related to what is computed by a logic program, the third truth value being associated with non-termination. A different three-valued semantics, proposed by Naish, shared much with those of Fitting and Kunen but incorporated allowances for programmer intent, the third truth value being associated with underspecification. Naish used an (apparently) novel “arrow” operator to relate the intended meaning of left and right sides of predicate definitions. In this paper we suggest that the additional truth values of Fitting/Kunen and Naish are best viewed as duals. We use Belnap's four-valued logic (Belnap, N. D. 1977. A useful four-valued logic. In Modern Uses of Multiple-Valued Logic, J. M. Dunn and G. Epstein, Eds. D. Reidel, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 8–37), also used elsewhere by Fitting, to unify the two three-valued approaches. The truth values are arranged in a bilattice, which supports the classical ordering on truth values as well as the “information ordering”. We note that the “arrow” operator of Naish (and our four-valued extension) is essentially the information ordering, whereas the classical arrow denotes the truth ordering. This allows us to shed new light on many aspects of logic programming, including program analysis, type and mode systems, declarative debugging and the relationships between specifications and programs, and successive execution states of a program.

scholarly journals Safe Inductions: An Algebraic Study

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bart Bogaerts ◽  
Joost Vennekens ◽  
Marc Denecker
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Representation ◽  
Logic Programming ◽  
Logic Programs ◽  
Intended Meaning ◽  
Safety Criterion ◽  
Autoepistemic Logic ◽  
Semantics Of Logic Programs ◽  
Do So

In many knowledge representation formalisms, a constructive semantics is defined based on sequential applications of rules or of a semantic operator. These constructions often share the property that rule applications must be delayed until it is safe to do so: until it is known that the condition that triggers the rule will remain to hold. This intuition occurs for instance in the well-founded semantics of logic programs and in autoepistemic logic. In this paper, we formally define the safety criterion algebraically. We study properties of so-called safe inductions and apply our theory to logic programming and autoepistemic logic. For the latter, we show that safe inductions manage to capture the intended meaning of a class of theories on which all classical constructive semantics fail.

scholarly journals On the Semantics of Logic Programs with Preferences

2007 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 501-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Greco ◽  
I. Trubitsyna ◽  
E. Zumpano
Keyword(s):  
Logic Programming ◽  
Complexity Analysis ◽  
Structural Information ◽  
Logic Program ◽  
Set Optimization ◽  
Logic Programs ◽  
Preference Relations ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
Semantics Of Logic Programs ◽  
Stable Models

This work is a contribution to prioritized reasoning in logic programming in the presence of preference relations involving atoms. The technique, providing a new interpretation for prioritized logic programs, is inspired by the semantics of Prioritized Logic Programming and enriched with the use of structural information of preference of Answer Set Optimization Programming. Specifically, the analysis of the logic program is carried out together with the analysis of preferences in order to determine the choice order and the sets of comparable models. The new semantics is compared with other approaches known in the literature and complexity analysis is also performed, showing that, with respect to other similar approaches previously proposed, the complexity of computing preferred stable models does not increase.

DEFINITION AND ADAPTATION OF WEIGHTED FUZZY LOGIC PROGRAMS

2009 ◽  
Vol 17 (01) ◽  
pp. 85-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALEXANDROS CHORTARAS ◽  
GIORGOS STAMOU ◽  
ANDREAS STAFYLOPATIS
Keyword(s):  
Fuzzy Logic ◽  
Logic Programming ◽  
General Framework ◽  
Logic Program ◽  
Logic Programs ◽  
Truth Value ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Logic Rule

Fuzzy logic programming has been lately used as a general framework for representing and handling imprecise knowledge. In this paper, we define the syntax and the semantics of definite weighted fuzzy logic programs, which extend definite fuzzy logic programs by allowing the inclusion of different significance weights in the individual atoms that make up the antecedent of a fuzzy logic rule. The weights add expressiveness to a fuzzy logic program and allow the determination of the level up to which an atom in the antecedent of a rule may affect the truth value of its consequent. In describing the semantics of definite weighted fuzzy logic programs we introduce the notion of the generalized weighted fuzzy conjunction operator, which can be regarded as a weighted t-norm based aggregation. We determine the properties of generalized weighted fuzzy conjunction operators and provide several examples. A methodology for constructing generalized weighted fuzzy conjunction operators using generator functions of existing t-norms is also introduced. Finally, a method for setting up a parametric weighted fuzzy logic program and automatically adapting the weights of its rules using a numerical dataset is developed.

scholarly journals A three-valued semantics for logic programmers

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 509-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
LEE NAISH
Keyword(s):  
Program Analysis ◽  
Logic Programs ◽  
Procedural Semantics ◽  
The Third ◽  
Negation As Failure ◽  
Sld Resolution ◽  
Correctness Of Programs ◽  
Semantics Of Logic Programs ◽  
Theoretical Results ◽  
Ground Atom

This paper describes a simpler way for programmers to reason about the correctness of their code. The study of semantics of logic programs has shown strong links between the model theoretic semantics (truth and falsity of atoms in the programmer's interpretation of a program), procedural semantics (for example, SLD resolution) and fixpoint semantics (which is useful for program analysis and alternative execution mechanisms). Most of this work assumes that intended interpretations are two-valued: a ground atom is true (and should succeed according to the procedural semantics) or false (and should not succeed). In reality, intended interpretations are less precise. Programmers consider that some atoms “should not occur” or are “ill-typed” or “inadmissible”. Programmers don't know and don't care whether such atoms succeed. In this paper we propose a three-valued semantics for (essentially) pure Prolog programs with (ground) negation as failure which reflects this. The semantics of Fitting is similar but only associates the third truth value with non-termination. We provide tools to reason about correctness of programs without the need for unnatural precision or undue restrictions on programming style. As well as theoretical results, we provide a programmer-oriented synopsis. This work has come out of work on declarative debugging, where it has been recognised that inadmissible calls are important.

scholarly journals Well-founded and stable semantics of logic programs with aggregates

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
NIKOLAY PELOV ◽  
MARC DENECKER ◽  
MAURICE BRUYNOOGHE
Keyword(s):  
Logic Programming ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Logic Programs ◽  
Consequence Operator ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Stable Semantics ◽  
Consequence Operators ◽  
Semantics Of Logic Programs ◽  
Stable Models

AbstractIn this paper, we present a framework for the semantics and the computation of aggregates in the context of logic programming. In our study, an aggregate can be an arbitrary interpreted second order predicate or function. We define extensions of the Kripke-Kleene, the well-founded and the stable semantics for aggregate programs. The semantics is based on the concept of a three-valuedimmediate consequence operatorof an aggregate program. Such an operatorapproximatesthe standard two-valued immediate consequence operator of the program, and induces a unique Kripke-Kleene model, a unique well-founded model and a collection of stable models. We study different ways of defining such operators and thus obtain a framework of semantics, offering different trade-offs betweenprecisionandtractability. In particular, we investigate conditions on the operator that guarantee that the computation of the three types of semantics remains on the same level as for logic programs without aggregates. Other results show that, in practice, even efficient three-valued immediate consequence operators which are very low in the precision hierarchy, still provide optimal precision.

scholarly journals Productive corecursion in logic programming

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 906-923 ◽  
Author(s):  
EKATERINA KOMENDANTSKAYA ◽  
YUE LI
Keyword(s):  
Data Structure ◽  
Logic Programming ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Logic Program ◽  
Stream Processing ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Logic Programs ◽  
Algorithmic Solution ◽  
Undecidable Property ◽  
Turing Complete

AbstractLogic Programming is a Turing complete language. As a consequence, designing algorithms that decide termination and non-termination of programs or decide inductive/coinductive soundness of formulae is a challenging task. For example, the existing state-of-the-art algorithms can only semi-decide coinductive soundness of queries in logic programming for regular formulae. Another, less famous, but equally fundamental and important undecidable property is productivity. If a derivation is infinite and coinductively sound, we may ask whether the computed answer it determines actually computes an infinite formula. If it does, the infinite computation is productive. This intuition was first expressed under the name of computations at infinity in the 80s. In modern days of the Internet and stream processing, its importance lies in connection to infinite data structure processing. Recently, an algorithm was presented that semi-decides a weaker property – of productivity of logic programs. A logic program is productive if it can give rise to productive derivations. In this paper, we strengthen these recent results. We propose a method that semi-decides productivity of individual derivations for regular formulae. Thus, we at last give an algorithmic counterpart to the notion of productivity of derivations in logic programming. This is the first algorithmic solution to the problem since it was raised more than 30 years ago. We also present an implementation of this algorithm.

scholarly journals Optimizing Answer Set Computation via Heuristic-Based Decomposition

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (04) ◽  
pp. 603-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
FRANCESCO CALIMERI ◽  
SIMONA PERRI ◽  
JESSICA ZANGARI
Keyword(s):  
Logic Programming ◽  
Logic Program ◽  
Answer Set Programming ◽  
Decomposition Techniques ◽  
Logic Programs ◽  
Experimental Activity ◽  
Performance Of Systems ◽  
Answer Sets ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Answer Set

AbstractAnswer Set Programming (ASP) is a purely declarative formalism developed in the field of logic programming and non-monotonic reasoning: computational problems are encoded by logic programs whose answer sets, corresponding to solutions, are computed by an ASP system. Different, semantically equivalent, programs can be defined for the same problem; however, performance of systems evaluating them might significantly vary. We propose an approach for automatically transforming an input logic program into an equivalent one that can be evaluated more efficiently. One can make use of existing tree-decomposition techniques for rewriting selected rules into a set of multiple ones; the idea is to guide and adaptively apply them on the basis of proper new heuristics, to obtain a smart rewriting algorithm to be integrated into an ASP system. The method is rather general: it can be adapted to any system and implement different preference policies. Furthermore, we define a set of new heuristics tailored at optimizing grounding, one of the main phases of the ASP computation; we use them in order to implement the approach into the ASP systemDLV, in particular into its grounding subsystemℐ-DLV, and carry out an extensive experimental activity for assessing the impact of the proposal.

scholarly journals Logic programming with social features

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 643-690 ◽  
Author(s):  
FRANCESCO BUCCAFURRI ◽  
GIANLUCA CAMINITI
Keyword(s):  
Logic Programming ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Stable Model ◽  
Logic Programs ◽  
Social Features ◽  
Knowledge Representation Language ◽  
Representation Language ◽  
Semantics Of Logic Programs

AbstractIn everyday life it happens that a person has to reason out what other people think and how they behave, in order to achieve his goals. In other words, an individual may be required to adapt his behavior by reasoning about the others' mental state. In this paper we focus on a knowledge-representation language derived from logic programming which both supports the representation of mental states of individual communities and provides each with the capability of reasoning about others' mental states and acting accordingly. The proposed semantics is shown to be translatable into stable model semantics of logic programs with aggregates.

scholarly journals On the existence of stable models of non-stratified logic programs

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 169-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEFANIA COSTANTINI
Keyword(s):  
Canonical Form ◽  
Logic Program ◽  
Practical Importance ◽  
The Body ◽  
Fundamental Result ◽  
Stable Model ◽  
Logic Programs ◽  
Truth Value ◽  
Answer Sets ◽  
Stable Models

In this paper we analyze the relationship between cyclic definitions and consistency in Gelfond-Lifschitz's answer sets semantics (originally defined as ‘stable model semantics’). This paper introduces a fundamental result, which is relevant for Answer Set programming, and planning. For the first time since the definition of the stable model semantics, the class of logic programs for which a stable model exists is given a syntactic characterization. This condition may have a practical importance both for defining new algorithms for checking consistency and computing answer sets, and for improving the existing systems. The approach of this paper is to introduce a new canonical form (to which any logic program can be reduced to), to focus the attention on cyclic dependencies. The technical result is then given in terms of programs in canonical form (canonical programs), without loss of generality: the stable models of any general logic program coincide (up to the language) to those of the corresponding canonical program. The result is based on identifying the cycles contained in the program, showing that stable models of the overall program are composed of stable models of suitable sub-programs, corresponding to the cycles, and on defining the Cycle Graph. Each vertex of this graph corresponds to one cycle, and each edge corresponds to one handle, which is a literal containing an atom that, occurring in both cycles, actually determines a connection between them. In fact, the truth value of the handle in the cycle where it appears as the head of a rule, influences the truth value of the atoms of the cycle(s) where it occurs in the body. We can therefore introduce the concept of a handle path, connecting different cycles. Cycles can be even, if they consist of an even number of rules, or vice versa they can be odd. Problems for consistency, as it is well-known, originate in the odd cycles. If for every odd cycle we can find a handle path with certain properties, then the existence of stable model is guaranteed. We will show that based on this results new classes of consistent programs can be defined, and that cycles and cycle graphs can be generalized to components and component graphs.

scholarly journals Programming in logic without logic programming

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT KOWALSKI ◽  
FARIBA SADRI
Keyword(s):  
Logic Programming ◽  
Logic Program ◽  
Operational Semantics ◽  
Canonical Model ◽  
State Transitions ◽  
Logic Programs ◽  
Initial State ◽  
State Sequence ◽  
Sequence Of Events ◽  
Current State

AbstractIn previous work, we proposed a logic-based framework in which computation is the execution of actions in an attempt to make reactive rules of the form if antecedent then consequent true in a canonical model of a logic program determined by an initial state, sequence of events, and the resulting sequence of subsequent states. In this model-theoretic semantics, reactive rules are the driving force, and logic programs play only a supporting role. In the canonical model, states, actions, and other events are represented with timestamps. But in the operational semantics (OS), for the sake of efficiency, timestamps are omitted and only the current state is maintained. State transitions are performed reactively by executing actions to make the consequents of rules true whenever the antecedents become true. This OS is sound, but incomplete. It cannot make reactive rules true by preventing their antecedents from becoming true, or by proactively making their consequents true before their antecedents become true. In this paper, we characterize the notion of reactive model, and prove that the OS can generate all and only such models. In order to focus on the main issues, we omit the logic programming component of the framework.

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