Title: Declarative programming techniques for engineering problems
Abstract: Declarative programming, which is based on the software technologies developed in the field of Artificial Intelligence research, is a suitable programming paradigm for engineering problems. In this thesis a novel definition is given for programming: programs written in declarative languages should deal with the architectural complexity issues of a system, while the algorithmic complexity should be addressed by using traditional, procedural languages. The purpose of the thesis is the analysis of this idea in the context of various implementations.
The implementation of the declarative programming paradigm used here applies a mixture of compilative and interpretative techniques. Declarative languages are introduced which use facilities developed in the framework of Knowledge Representation techniques. The implementation of these languages involves ideas borrowed from the field of Automatic Programming and Object-Oriented Programming. An example language, the Hierarchical Description Language for representing complex signal processing systems, is presented to illustrate the various capabilities of declarative programs, among them hierarchical decomposition, parametrization, alternative realizations of the same system, multiple-aspect modeling and structural adaptivity for computations.
Declarative languages are customized, very high-level languages for representing the structure of a system. A meta-language, called DLL, is described, which supports the creation of such languages with declarative structures. This meta-language provides a framework for the developer of a new language to be filled with the details of an implementation, without imposing restrictions on the features to be included. This way efficient implementations can be achieved.
Declarations, as structural specifications, are easily expressed in form of graphs, which can be visually presented. The thesis describes an iconic editor program which lets the user specify declarations by using graphical tools, running on a high-performance graphics computer system. The editor program is generic, in the sense that it is able to generate declarative forms for a wide range of languages. This is achieved by customization, which determines how the editor program should operate.
The systems described are being used in various practical applications and on various computer configurations.
Publication Year: 1988
Publication Date: 1988-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 12
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