Smodels — an implementation of the stable model and well-founded semantics for normal logic programs

Abstract

The Smodels system is a C++ implementation of the well-founded and stable model semantics for range-restricted function-free normal programs. The system includes two modules: (i) smodels which implements the two semantics for ground programs and (ii) parse which computes a grounded version of a range-restricted function-free normal program. The latter module does not produce the whole set of ground instances of the program but a subset that is sufficient in the sense that no stable models are lost. The implementation of the stable model semantics for ground programs is based on bottom-up backtracking search where a powerful pruning method is employed. The pruning method exploits an approximation technique for stable models which is closely related to the well-founded semantics. One of the advantages of this novel technique is that it can be implemented to work in linear space. This makes it possible to apply the stable model semantics also in areas where resulting programs are highly non-stratified and can possess a large number of stable models. The implementation has been tested extensively and compared with a state of the art implementation of the stable model semantics, the SLG system. In tests involving ground programs it clearly outperforms SLG.