The Ciao clp(FD) Library. A Modular CLP Extension for Prolog

TL;DR

The paper introduces a modular, efficient, and Prolog-based Constraint Logic Programming library for Finite Domains within the Ciao system, enabling flexible constraint specification and integration.

Contribution

It presents a highly modular, high-performance FD library in Prolog, with a glass-box design allowing user customization and seamless integration with Ciao's analysis tools.

Findings

Library achieves competitive performance with existing FD implementations.

Modular design facilitates easy replacement and extension of components.

Supports various levels of constraint specification, from low-level modules to high-level paradigms.

Abstract

We present a new free library for Constraint Logic Programming over Finite Domains, included with the Ciao Prolog system. The library is entirely written in Prolog, leveraging on Ciao's module system and code transformation capabilities in order to achieve a highly modular design without compromising performance. We describe the interface, implementation, and design rationale of each modular component. The library meets several design goals: a high level of modularity, allowing the individual components to be replaced by different versions; high-efficiency, being competitive with other FD implementations; a glass-box approach, so the user can specify new constraints at different levels; and a Prolog implementation, in order to ease the integration with Ciao's code analysis components. The core is built upon two small libraries which implement integer ranges and closures. On top of that, a finite domain variable datatype is defined, taking care of constraint reexecution depending on range changes. These three libraries form what we call the FD kernel of the library. This FD kernel is used in turn to implement several higher-level finite domain constraints, specified using indexicals. Together with a labeling module this layer forms what we name \emph{the FD solver}. A final level integrates the clp(FD) paradigm with our FD solver. This is achieved using attributed variables and a compiler from the clp(FD) language to the set of constraints provided by the solver. It should be noted that the user of the library is encouraged to work in any of those levels as seen convenient: from writing a new range module to enriching the set of FD constraints by writing new indexicals.