Mathematical Aspects of Logic Programming Semantics

Covering the authors’ own state-of-the-art research results, Mathematical Aspects of Logic Programming Semantics presents a rigorous, modern account of the mathematical methods and tools required for the semantic analysis of logic programs. It significantly extends the tools and methods from traditional order theory to include nonconventional methods from mathematical analysis that depend on topology, domain theory, generalized distance functions, and associated fixed-point theory.

The book covers topics spanning the period from the early days of logic programming to current times. It discusses applications to computational logic and potential applications to the integration of models of computation, knowledge representation and reasoning, and the Semantic Web. The authors develop well-known and important semantics in logic programming from a unified point of view using both order theory and new, nontraditional methods. They closely examine the interrelationships between various semantics as well as the integration of logic programming and connectionist systems/neural networks.

For readers interested in the interface between mathematics and computer science, this book offers a detailed development of the mathematical techniques necessary for studying the semantics of logic programs. It illustrates the main semantics of logic programs and applies the methods in the context of neural-symbolic integration.

Pascal Hitzler is an assistant professor in the Kno.e.sis Center for Knowledge-Enabled Computing, which is an Ohio Center of Excellence at Wright State University. Dr. Hitzler is editor-in-chief of the journal Semantic Web ― Interoperability, Usability, Applicability and co-author of the textbook Foundations of Semantic Web Technologies (CRC Press, August 2009). His research interests encompass the Semantic Web, neural-symbolic integration, knowledge representation and reasoning, denotational semantics, and set-theoretic topology.

Anthony Seda is a senior lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and co-founder of the Boole Centre for Research in Informatics at University College Cork. Dr. Seda is an editorial board member of Information and the International Journal of Advanced Intelligence. His research interests include measure theory, functional analysis, topology, fixed-point theory, denotational semantics, and the semantics of logic programs.