Abstract

. We present a logical programming language, generative clause programs, which generalize definite clause programs with a meta-programming level. The fundamental notion in the language is that of a meta-goal which consists of a plain goal together with a program in which it is expected to be true. The declarative semantics can be defined in terms of Herbrand models consisting of such meta-goals. The well-known fixpoint characterization of the least Herbrand model for definite clause programs generalizes immediately. The procedural semantics is considered in terms of an interpreter program and a compiler for the language. 1 Introduction A meta-level in logic programming is traditionally introduced by means of a selfinterpreter programmed in the logical language itself, e.g., (Bowen, Kowalski, 1982, Bowen, Weinberg, 1985, Bowen, 1985, Hill, Lloyd, 1988, Subrahmanian, 1988). In this way, the access to the meta-level is syntactically just a call of a predicate and consequently, its semant...

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