Logic Program Synthesis from Incomplete Information

Program synthesis is a solution to the software crisis. If we had a program that develops correct programs from specifications, then program validation and maintenance would disappear from the software life-cycle, and one could focus on the more creative tasks of specification elaboration, validation, and maintenance, because replay of program development would be less costly. This monograph describes an approach to Inductive Logic Programming (ILP), which cross-fertilizes logic programming and machine learning. Aiming at the synthesis of recursive logic programs only, and this from incomplete information, we take a software engineering approach that is more appropriate than a pure artificial intelligence approach. This book is suitable as a secondary text for graduate-level courses in software engineering and artificial intelligence, and as a reference for practitioners of program synthesis.