Methods and Methodologies for Developing Answer-Set Programs - Project Description

Answer-set programming (ASP) is a well-known formalism for declarative problem solving, enjoying a continuously increasing number of diverse applications. However, arguably one of the main challenges for a wider acceptance of ASP is the need of tools, methods, and methodologies that support the actual programming process. In this paper, we review the main goals of a project, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), which aims to address this aspect in a systematic manner. The project is planned for a duration of three years and started in September 2009. Generally, the focus of research will be on methodologies for systematic program development, program testing, and debugging. In particular, in working on these areas, special emphasis shall be given to the ability of the developed techniques to respect the declarative nature of ASP. To support a sufficient level of usability, solutions are planned to be compatible not only for the core language of ASP but also for important extensions thereof that are commonly used and realised in various answer-set solvers. Ultimately, the methods resulting from the project shall form the basis of an integrated development environment (IDE) for ASP that is envisaged to combine straightforward as well as advanced techniques, realising a convenient tool for developing answer-set programs.