onlineSPARC: a Programming Environment for Answer Set Programming

TL;DR

onlineSPARC is an accessible online environment that simplifies answer set programming for learners by providing an easy-to-use interface and integrated tools for writing, querying, and visualizing logic programs.

Contribution

It introduces a web-based answer set programming environment with a self-contained system and user-friendly features, reducing barriers for education and wider adoption.

Findings

Enables users to write and edit logic programs online

Supports querying and visualization of answer sets

Facilitates teaching logic programming to students

Abstract

Recent progress in logic programming (e.g., the development of the Answer Set Programming paradigm) has made it possible to teach it to general undergraduate and even middle/high school students. Given the limited exposure of these students to computer science, the complexity of downloading, installing and using tools for writing logic programs could be a major barrier for logic programming to reach a much wider audience. We developed onlineSPARC, an online answer set programming environment with a self contained file system and a simple interface. It allows users to type/edit logic programs and perform several tasks over programs, including asking a query to a program, getting the answer sets of a program, and producing a drawing/animation based on the answer sets of a program.