Most of the research in the area of logic programming has been focused on programs which manipulate finite terms. Infinite (rational) terms are allowed in traditional logic programming; however, logic programs are mostly limited to those in which only finite proofs can be obtained for the logical statements. Since the declarative semantics of traditional logic programming is given in terms of a least fixed point, i.e., it is inductive, it cannot be directly used for reasoning over infinite objects (which belong to the greatest fixed-points). Coinductive logic programming (Co-LP) has been recently introduced as a step forward toward developing logic programs containing both finite and infinite (rational) terms, which allows for the model of a program to contain ground goals that have either finite or infinite (rational) proofs. Co-LP provides an operational semantics --similar to SLD resolution-- for computing the greatest fixed point of a logic program.
Extending logic programming with coinduction has opened a new venue for research in different aspects of this paradigm. These include exploring the theory and implementation of Co-LP along with its relationship with other programming and computing paradigms. Co-LP is only a starting point for developing logic programs ( and their semantics ) that can be used to fully reason about infinite objects and their properties. For instance, from the theoretical point of view, Co-LP handles only infinite (rational) terms. However, extension of Co-LP with infinite irrational terms also is an interesting open problem. Co-LP does not allow the cycles through induction and coinduction predicates, this is called stratification restriction. Another interesting research topic is that, what would be the declarative semantics of coinductive logic programming without the stratification restriction. How the operational semantics of Co-LP can be extended to adapt to these changes?
From the implementation point of view, currently, there is no efficient implementation of coinductive logic programming. Extending other computation paradigms with coinduction is also an interesting area to be explored. Coinductive constraint logic programming has recently been introduced as the combination of coinductive logic programming and constraint logic programming; however, combining coinduction with other paradigms such as answer set programming and tabling were never considered.
The Co-LP 2012 workshop is going to be the first workshop in coinductive logic programming.
| July 15 | Submission deadline |
| July 31 | Notification about acceptance/rejection |
| August 9 | Final paper due |
| September 8 | Workshop |