Extending the Domain of Logic Programming

这项研究的重点是将逻辑编程扩展到一阶逻辑之外。一种扩展允许知识库中有更多种类的子句。特别是，不定子句被允许存在于知识库中，并且开发了处理策略，使得推理所需的时间不会显著长于仅在确定子句的情况下所需时间的倍数。第二个扩展允许在定义子句中使用变量来代替谓词和函数符号。这项工作的重要性在于开发自动程序转换和验证系统，以及阐明基于知识的系统中逻辑编程所需的基本过程。

This research focuses on extending logic programming beyond first order logic. One kind ofextension allows more kinds of clauses in the knowledge base. In particular, indefinite clauses are allowed to exist in the knowledge base, and processing strategies are developed so that inference takes not significantly longer than a multiple of the time required in the case of definite clauses only. A second extension permits the use of variables in place of predicate and function symbols in definite clauses. The importance of this work is in developing automatic program transformation and verification systems, and in illuminating the fundamental processes required for logic programming in knowledge based systems.