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DLV-EX: The Project

DLV-EX is an Answer Set Programming System extending [http://www.dlvsystem.com DLV] by External Predicates, which features a framework aimed at enabling ASP to deal with external sources of computation. This feature is realized by the introduction of “parametric” external predicates, whose extension is not specified by means of a logic program but implicitly computed through external code. It is explicitly addressed the issue of invention of new information coming from external predicates, in form of new, and possibly infinite, constant symbols.

DLV-EX is based on the [http://www.dlvsystem.com DLV] system.

If you designed a nice external predicate, tell [mailto:dlv-ex@mat.unical.it us].

attachment:new.gif Important advice: attachment:new.gif

The DLV-EX project is now moving to [http://www.mat.unical.it/dlv-complex DLV-Complex]. DLV-Complex is a very powerful ASP system, which, besides external predicates, explicitly supports (recursive) functions, sets, and lists, along with libraries for their manipulations. This page is still the main reference for the external-predicate framework and utilities: you will find all necessary tools for developing your own predicates in the [#download download] section. Nevertheless, we strongly recommend to refer to the [http://www.mat.unical.it/dlv-complex DLV-Complex] page for binaries, news and updates.

If you want, you can still download the last version of DLV-EX available, in the [#download download] section.

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The Team

Core

[http://www.mat.unical.it/calimeri Francesco Calimeri], [http://www.gibbi.com Giovambattista Ianni], [mailto:cozza@mat.unical.it Susanna Cozza]

Former team members

Adriana Pietramala (student), Maria Carmela Santoro (student)

Prompters and helpers

[http://www.wfaber.com Wolfgang Faber], [http://www.pfeifer.com/gerald/ Gerald Pfeifer], [http://www.mat.unical.it/~leone/ Nicola Leone]

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Download

DLV-EX is actively developed. To receive notifications about new releases and other important events regarding DLV-EX, just have a look at this page, or drop us a note [mailto:dlv-ex@mat.unical.it here].

Please always use the most current version of DLV-EX (cf. [#history version history]). You may also want to have a look at [attachment:benchmarks.html some benchmarks].

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Latest Version

We offer a command-line version in binary form for

• [attachment:dl-ex.20060426.linux.tar.gz i386-linux-elf-static] (Latest version [#history April 26th, 2006]).

(please have a look at the notes below). We plan to release binaries for other platforms as soon as an official release will be ready.

Notes: Please note that the .tar.gz archive consists of the executable plus a folder, namely "LIB", containing headers and scripts needed in order to create new External Builtins libraries. For further information, have a look at the [#docs documentation].

Libraries

Some (compiled) dynamic libraries can be downloaded here. They have to be considered as "betas", since they are currently developed and tested. Feedbacks are useful and welcome, so please download them freely. For further information on how to exploit libraries have a look at the [#docs documentation]. Please note that updates will be available later on, so come back to this page.

• [attachment:string_lib.so.tar.gz String Library (linux)] and [attachment:string_lib.htm related documentation].
• [attachment:math_N.so.tar.gz Integers Library (linux)] and [attachment:math_N.htm related documentation].
• [attachment:math_R.so.tar.gz Reals Library (linux)] and [attachment:math_R.htm related documentation].

Utilities

DEBT - We have developed an integrated command-line environment aimed at helping in testing external built-ins predicates. This may be very useful for users who define their own built-ins. DEBT can be downloaded [attachment:debt.tar.gz here], and it is gathered with its related [attachment:BuiltinTestToolUSERMANUAL.pdf documentation].

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Documentation & Examples

We provide an [attachment:usermanual.html online manual] and an [attachment:tutorial.html online tutorial]; they are updated accordingly to the evolution of the system, so check them periodically.

For a full documentation on DLV please check the official [http://www.dlvsystem.com web page].

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Related Works

It is worth noting that our work shares many aspects with the work carried out by Thomas Eiter, Giovambattista Ianni, Roman Schindlauer, and Hans Tompits. They introduce HEX programs, which are nonmonotonic logic programs admitting higher-order atoms as well as external atoms, and extend the answer-set semantics accordingly. A web page with a prototype and some references is available [http://con.fusion.at/dlvhex/ here].

• [http://www.dlvsystem.com DLV] is the system into which DLV-EX is implemented.

• [http://dlt.gibbi.com/ DLT] is an extension to the DLV system providing reusable template predicate definitions. It is maintained by members of the DLV team from Università della Calabria.

• [http://www.kr.tuwien.ac.at/staff/roman/dlvhex DLV-HEX] features "second order" external predicates taking relational input an returning relational output, as well as higher order atoms. It allows DLT as a pre-parser.

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History

• April 26th, 2006 attachment:new.gif

Bugfixes and speedups. Support for VI-restricted programs implemented.

• September 28th, 2005

"Beta" version, much improved. Carries many bugfixes and improvements.

• March 28th, 2005

First stable version, even if still a "beta".

• October 17th, 2004

First working version, experimental.

• Previous versions

...did not carry a real version identification.

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Selected Publications

[1] F. Calimeri, S. Cozza, G. Ianni, "External Sources of Knowledge and Value Invention in Logic Programming", Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence, 2007, to appear. [attachment:cali-etal-AMAI-2007.pdf PDF]

[2] F. Calimeri, S. Cozza, G. Ianni, "Decidable fragments of Logic Programming with Value Invention", Proceedings of the 10th European Conference on Logics in Artificial Intelligence (JELIA'06) in Logics in Artificial Intelligence, Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS), v. 4160, pp. 95-110, September 2006, Liverpool, UK, Springer Verlag, GmbH Tiergartenstrasse 17, 69121, Heidelberg Germany, ISBN 3-540-39625-X. [attachment:jelia06.pdf PDF]

[3] F. Calimeri, G. Ianni, "External sources of computation for Answer Set Solvers", Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Logic Programming and Nonmonotonic Reasoning (LPNMR'05), Diamante, Italy, 5-8 September 2005, Springer Verlag. [attachment:lpnmr05.pdf PDF]

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[mailto:dlv-ex@mat.unical.it dlv-ex@mat.unical.it]