Automatic reordering for dataflow safety of Datalog

Clauses and subgoals in a Datalog program can be given in any order without affecting program meaning. However, practical applications of the language require the use of built-in or external predicates with particular dataflow requirements. These can be expressed as input or output “modes” on arguments. We describe a static analysis of moding for Datalog which calculates how to transform an ill-moded program into a well-moded program by reordering clause subgoals to satisfy dataflow requirements. We de- scribe an incremental algorithm which efficiently finds a reordering if it exists. This frees the programmer to focus on the declarative specification of a program rather than implementation details of external predicates. We prove that our computed reorderings yield well-moded programs (soundness) and if a program can be made well-moded, then we compute a reordering to do so (completeness).