Debugging Logic Programs under the Answer Set Semantics

This paper discusses the background, algorithms and implementation techniques to support programmers in 'debugging' logic programs under the answer set semantics. We first investigate what constitutes an error in such programs and which classes of errors exist. This is used to motivate techniques and algorithms that respectively eliminate certain classes of errors and explain how an error occurred and why it occurred. Finally, details of the IDEAS (Interactive Development and Evaluation tool for Answer Set Semantics) system are given, a prototype version of which implements all of the techniques described.