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Positive Boolean Functions as Multiheaded Clauses

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Logic Programming (ICLP 2001)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 2237))

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Abstract

Boolean functions are ubiquitous in the analysis of (constraint) logic programs.The domain of positive Boolean functions, Pos, has been used for expressing, for example, groundness, finiteness and sharing dependencies. The performance of an analyser based on Boolean functions is critically dependent on the way in which the functions are represented. This paper discusses multiheaded clauses as a representation of positive Boolean functions. The domain operations for multiheaded clauses are conceptually simple and can be implemented straightforwardly in Prolog. Moreo ver these operations generalise those for the less algorithmically complex operations of propositional Horn clauses, leading to naturally stratified algorithms. The multiheaded clause representation is used to build a pos-based groundness analyser. The analyser performs surprisingly well and scales smoothly, not requiring widening to analyse any program in the benchmark suite.

Work supported by EPSRC Grant GR/MO8769.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computing, City University, London, UK

    Jacob M. Howe

  2. Computing Laboratory, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

    Andy King

Authors
  1. Jacob M. Howe
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  2. Andy King
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. LIP6, case 169, University of Paris 6, 8 rue du Capitaine Scott, 75015, Paris, France

    Philippe Codognet

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© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Howe, J.M., King, A. (2001). Positive Boolean Functions as Multiheaded Clauses. In: Codognet, P. (eds) Logic Programming. ICLP 2001. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2237. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45635-X_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45635-X_16

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-42935-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45635-3

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