Abstract

An extension of predicate logic, called Transaction Logic, is proposed, which accounts in a clean and declarative fashion for the phenomenon of state changes in logic programs and databases. Transaction Logic has a natural model theory and a sound and complete proof theory, but unlike many other logics, it allows users to program transactions. The semantics leads naturally to features whose amalgamation in a single logic has proved elusive in the past. These features include both hypothetical and committed updates, dynamic constraints on transaction execution, nondeterminism, and bulk updates. Finally, Transaction Logic holds promise as a logical model of hitherto non-logical phenomena, including so-called procedural knowledge in AI, and the behavior of object-oriented databases, especially methods with side effects. This paper presents the semantics of Transaction Logic coupled with a sound and complete proof theory for a Horn-like subset of the logic. To appear in the Proceedings...

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