Constraint logic programming: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 23:47, 16 March 2006

Revision as of 00:00, 17 March 2006

Line 1:

'''Constraint logic programming''' is a form of [[constraint programming]], in which [[logic programming]] is extended to include concepts from [[constraint satisfaction]]. A constraint logic program is a logic program that contains constraints in the body of clauses. An example of a clause including a constraint is <code>A(X,Y) :- X+Y>0, B(X), C(Y)</code>. In this clause, <code>X+Y>0</code> is a constraint; <code>A(X,Y)</code>, <code>B(X)</code>, and <code>C(Y)</code> are literals like in regular logic programming. Intuitively, this clause tells one condition under which the statement <code>A(X,Y)</code> holds: this is the case if <code>X+Y</code> is greater than zero and both <code>B(X)</code> and <code>C(Y)</code> are true.

Like in regular logic programming, programs are queried about the provability of a goal, which may contain constraints in addition to literals. A proof for a goal is composed of clauses whose constraintsbodies are satisfiedsatisfiable constraints and whoseliterals literalsthat can in turn be proved using other clauses. Execution is done by an interpreter, which starts from the goal and [[Recursion|recursively]] scans the clauses trying to prove the goal. Constraints encountered during this scan are placed in a set called '''constraint store'''. If this set is found out to be unsatisfiable, the interpreter [[Backtracking|backtracks]], trying to use other clauses for proving the goal. In practice, satisfiability of the constraint store may be checked using an incomplete algorithm, which does not always detect inconsistency.

==Overview==