# The Prolog debugger and declarative programming

## TL;DR

This paper examines the limitations of the Prolog debugger's operational semantics approach and explores how it can be adapted for declarative programming, highlighting significant challenges and theoretical insights.

## Contribution

It analyzes the incompatibility between Prolog's debugger and declarative programming, providing a theoretical discussion on integrating debugging with declarative semantics.

## Key findings

- Prolog debugger operates only in terms of operational semantics.
- The debugger's box model is explained via SLD-resolution.
- Adapting the debugger for declarative programming faces substantial difficulties.

## Abstract

Logic programming is a declarative programming paradigm. Programming language Prolog makes logic programming possible, at least to a substantial extent. However the Prolog debugger works solely in terms of the operational semantics. So it is incompatible with declarative programming. This report discusses this issue and tries to find how the debugger may be used from the declarative point of view. The results are rather not encouraging. Also, the box model of Byrd, used by the debugger, is explained in terms of SLD-resolution.