Abstract
Delaying-based tabling mechanisms, such as the one adopted in XSB, are non-linear in the sense that the computation state of delayed calls has to be preserved. In this paper, we present the implementation of a linear tabling mechanism. The key idea is to let a call execute from the backtracking point of a former variant call if such a call exists. The linear tabling mechanism has the following advantages over non-linear ones: (1) it is relatively easy to implement; (2) it imposes no overhead on standard Prolog programs; and (3) the cut operator works as for standard Prolog programs and thus it is possible to use the cut operator to express negation-as-failure and conditionals in tabled programs. The weakness of the linear mechanism is the necessity of re-computation for computing fix-points. However, we have found that re-computation can be avoided for a large portion of calls of directly-recursive tabled predicates. We have implemented the linear tabling mechanism in B-Prolog. Experimental comparison shows that B-Prolog is close in speed to XSB and outperforms XSB when re-computation can be avoided. Concerning space efficiency, B-Prolog is an order of magnitude better than XSB for some programs.
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Zhou, NF., Shen, YD., Yuan, LY., You, JH. (1999). Implementation of a Linear Tabling Mechanism. In: Pontelli, E., Santos Costa, V. (eds) Practical Aspects of Declarative Languages. PADL 2000. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1753. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-46584-7_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-46584-7_8
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