Towards a More Declarative Language for Solving Finite Domain Problems
Maurice Bruynooghe, Nikolay Pelov, Marc Denecker · Lirias · 1999
It has been observed that the use of an abductive formalism allows to formulate finite domain problems in a much more declarative style than with the use of a finite domain constraint language. However, such a system tends to have complex inference rules and it is very difficult to understand how the formalization influences the performance of the abductive solver. This paper explores the expressive power and the computational requirements for a much more restrictive abductive system where the abductive component is restricted to the abduction of open function symbols. The result is a language and an evaluation mechanism which remains more close to conventional logic programming than other abductive systems