Control Generation by Program Transformation

Martin, Jonathan.C. and King, Andy (2004) Control Generation by Program Transformation. Technical report. University of Kent, University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7NF

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Abstract

The objective of control generation in logic programming is to derive a computation rule for a program that is efficient and yet does not compromise program correctness. Progress in solving this fundamental problem in logic programming has been slow and, to date, only partial solutions have been proposed. Previously proposed schemes are either inefficient, incomplete (incorrect) or difficult to apply for programs consisting of many components (the scheme is not modular). This paper shows how the control generation problem can be tackled by program transformation. The transform relies on information about the depths of derivations to derive delay declarations which orchestrate the control. To prove correctness of the transform, the notion of semi-delay recurrency is introduced, which generalises previous ideas in the termination literature for reasoning about logic programs with delay declarations. In contrast to previous work, semi-delay recurrency does not require an atom to be completely resolved before another is selected for reduction. This enhancement permits the transformation to introduce control which is both flexible and efficient.

Item Type: Monograph (Technical report)
Uncontrolled keywords: control generation, logic programming, delay declarations, termination
Subjects: Q Science > QA Mathematics (inc Computing science) > QA 76 Software, computer programming,
Divisions: Faculties > Science Technology and Medical Studies > School of Computing > Theoretical Computing Group
Depositing User: Mark Wheadon
Date Deposited: 24 Nov 2008 18:02
Last Modified: 06 Sep 2011 01:26
Resource URI: http://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/14199 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)
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