Integrated development environment for answer set programming

Abstract

Answer Set Programming (ASP) is a truly-declarative programming paradigm proposed in the area of non-monotonic reasoning and logic programming. The successful application of ASP in a number of advanced projects, has renewed the interest in ASP-based systems for developing real-world applications. Nonethe- less, to boost the adoption of ASP-based technologies in the scientific commu- nity and especially in industry, it is important to provide effective programming tools, supporting the activities of researchers and implementors, and simplifying user interactions with ASP solvers. In the last few years, several tools for ASP- program development have been proposed, including (more or less advanced) editors and debuggers. However, ASP still lacks an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) supporting the entire life-cycle of ASP development, from (assisted) programs editing to application deployment. In this thesis we present ASPIDE, a comprehensive IDE for ASP. It inte- grates a cutting-edge editing tool (featuring dynamic syntax highlighting, on- line syntax correction, auto-completion, code-templates, quick-fixes, refactoring, etc.) with a collection of user-friendly graphical tools for program composi- tion, debugging, profiling, database access, solver execution configuration and output-handling. A comprehensive feature-wise comparison with existing environments for developing logic programs is also reported in this thesis, which shows that ASPIDE is a step forward in the present state of the art of tools for ASP programs development.