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On the occur-check-free PROLOG programs

Editor: Andrew W. Appel Authors:

Krzysztof R. Apt,

Alessandro PellegriniAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems (TOPLAS), Volume 16, Issue 3

Pages 687 - 726

https://doi.org/10.1145/177492.177673

Published: 01 May 1994 Publication History

Abstract

In most PROLOG implementations, for efficiency occur-check is omitted from the unification algorithm. This paper provides natural syntactic conditions that allow the occur-check to be safely omitted. The established results apply to most well-known PROLOG programs, including those that use difference lists, and seem to explain why this omission does not lead in practice to any complications. When applying these results to general programs, we show their usefulness for proving absence of floundering. Finally, we propose a program transformation that transforms every program into a program for which only the calls to the built-in unification predicate need to be resolved by a unification algorithm with the occur-check.

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Cited By

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Drabent W(2021)A Note on Occur-CheckElectronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science10.4204/EPTCS.345.17345(54-67)Online publication date: 17-Sep-2021
https://doi.org/10.4204/EPTCS.345.17
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On the occur-check-free PROLOG programs

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Information

Published In

cover image ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems

ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems Volume 16, Issue 3

May 1994

773 pages

ISSN:0164-0925

EISSN:1558-4593

DOI:10.1145/177492

Editor:
Andrew W. Appel
Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 1994 ACM.

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 May 1994

Published in TOPLAS Volume 16, Issue 3

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Cited By

Drabent W(2023)A relaxed condition for avoiding the occur-checkTheoretical Computer Science10.1016/j.tcs.2023.114107975:COnline publication date: 9-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.tcs.2023.114107
Drabent W(2021)A Note on Occur-CheckElectronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science10.4204/EPTCS.345.17345(54-67)Online publication date: 17-Sep-2021
https://doi.org/10.4204/EPTCS.345.17
Hodges W(2009)Functional Modelling and Mathematical Models: A Semantic AnalysisPhilosophy of Technology and Engineering Sciences10.1016/B978-0-444-51667-1.50029-X(665-692)Online publication date: 2009
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-51667-1.50029-X
Czenko MEtalle S(2009)LP with flexible grouping and aggregates using modesProceedings of the 19th international conference on Logic-Based Program Synthesis and Transformation10.1007/978-3-642-12592-8_6(67-81)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-642-12592-8_6
Smaus JHill PKing A(2006)Termination of logic programs with block declarations running in several modesPrinciples of Declarative Programming10.1007/BFb0056608(73-88)Online publication date: 2-Jun-2006
https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0056608
Mesnard FBagnara R(2005)cTI: a constraint-based termination inference tool for ISO-PrologTheory and Practice of Logic Programming10.1017/S14710684040020175:1-2(243-257)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2005
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1017/S1471068404002017
Clancy DKuipers B(2005)Time in Qualitative Simulation10.1016/S1574-6526(05)80022-7(655-664)Online publication date: 2005
https://doi.org/10.1016/S1574-6526(05)80022-7
Bruynooghe MCodish MMulkers A(2005)Abstracting unification: A key step in the design of logic program analysesComputer Science Today10.1007/BFb0015257(406-425)Online publication date: 9-Jun-2005
https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0015257
Crnogorac LKelly ASØndergaard H(2005)A comparison of three occur-check analysersStatic Analysis10.1007/3-540-61739-6_40(159-173)Online publication date: 2-Jun-2005
https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-61739-6_40
Rohwedder EPfenning F(2005)Mode and termination checking for higher-order logic programsProgramming Languages and Systems — ESOP '9610.1007/3-540-61055-3_44(296-310)Online publication date: 2-Jun-2005
https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-61055-3_44
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