Answer Set Programming

Answer set programming (ASP) is a form of declarative programming oriented towards difficult (primarily NP-hard) search problems. It is based on the stable model (answer set) semantics of logic programming. In ASP, search problems are reduced to computing stable models, and answer set solvers -- programs for generating stable models—are used to perform search. The computational process employed in the design of many answer set solvers is an enhancement of the DPLL algorithm and, in principle, it always terminates (unlike Prolog query evaluation, which may lead to an infinite loop).

In a more general sense, ASP includes all applications of answer sets to knowledge representation and the use of Prolog-style query evaluation for solving problems arising in these applications.

Read more about Answer Set Programming:  History, Answer Set Programming Language AnsProlog, Generating Stable Models, Comparison of Implementations

Famous quotes containing the words answer, set and/or programming:

    My father did enough of it in his lifetime to answer for both of us.
    Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)

    O these encounterers, so glib of tongue,
    That give a coasting welcome ere it comes,
    And wide unclasp the tables of their thoughts
    To every ticklish reader! Set them down
    For sluttish spoils of opportunity
    And daughters of the game.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    If there is a price to pay for the privilege of spending the early years of child rearing in the driver’s seat, it is our reluctance, our inability, to tolerate being demoted to the backseat. Spurred by our success in programming our children during the preschool years, we may find it difficult to forgo in later states the level of control that once afforded us so much satisfaction.
    Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)