Declarative semantics of a meta-programming language

Henning Christiansen
Department of Computer Science
Roskilde University, P.O.Box 260, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark


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.

See dvi, postscript.


Proceedings of META90, Workshop on Meta-Programming in Logic, (M. Bruynooghe, ed.). 4-6 April 1990, Leuven, Belgium, pp. 150-168, 1990.