An integrated Graphical User Interface for Debugging Answer Set Programs

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new graphical debugging interface integrated into ASPIDE, enhancing debugging of non-ground answer set programs by simplifying interaction and supporting industrial applications of Answer Set Programming.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel graphical debugging interface for non-ground ASP programs, integrated into ASPIDE, based on the DWASP approach, improving usability and debugging efficiency.

Findings

The interface simplifies debugging interactions.

Integration into ASPIDE enhances IDE capabilities.

Supports industrial applications of ASP.

Abstract

Answer Set Programming (ASP) is an expressive knowledge representation and reasoning framework. Due to its rather simple syntax paired with high-performance solvers, ASP is interesting for industrial applications. However, to err is human and thus debugging is an important activity during the development process. Therefore, tools for debugging non-ground answer set programs are needed. In this paper, we present a new graphical debugging interface for non-ground answer set programs. The tool is based on the recently-introduced DWASP approach for debugging and it simplifies the interaction with the debugger. Furthermore, the debugging interface is integrated in ASPIDE, a rich IDE for answer set programs. With our extension ASPIDE turns into a full-fledged IDE by offering debugging support.