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Degree

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Computer Engineering, 1990.

Abstract

Logic programming languages provide a higher level of data and control abstraction compared to procedural languages. The greater abstraction has made visible some new patterns in programs and in the process of their construction. Programs may be conceived of containing a skeleton program that provides its primary flow of control. A program is developed by adding computation around its skeleton without altering the control flow it provides. This is called enhancement and is manifested by the addition of extra arguments and goals in a program. Stepwise enhancement takes advantage of this decomposition of a program into skeleton and enhancements. It is a method of programming that suggests the development of programs by first constructing a skeleton program that provides its main flow of control. The final program is constructed by applying a sequence of enhancements to this skeleton. Further, if the successive enhancements are mutually independent the development of program is forked into independent branches. The resulting programs are composed into one at a later stage. This incremental method of programming provides a new way for separating concerns during programming. It also identifies the need for additional support from a programming environment to aid in the process of constructing programs. The workbench designed in this th esis is equipped with the support necessary for developing logic programs by stepwise enhancement. It provides a mechanical aid to perform enhancements. It also provides tools to compose programs that result from parallel but independent enhancements of the same program. The enhancement and composition tools use program transformation techniques for carrying out the respective operations. This use of program transformations contrasts with their conventional use to improve the efficiency of programs.

Subject Headings

Computer Science

Keywords

workbench developing logic programs stepwise enhancement

Advisor

Leon S. Sterling

Pages

299p.

Document number: case1054583632
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1054583632

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