This library handled tabled execution of predicates using the characteristics if the SLG WAM. The required suspension is realised using delimited continuations implemented by reset/3 and shift/1. The table space and work lists are part of the SWI-Prolog core.

author

- Benoit Desouter, Jan Wielemaker and Fabrizio Riguzzi

 table :PredicateIndicators

Prepare the given PredicateIndicators for tabling. This predicate is normally used as a directive, but SWI-Prolog also allows runtime conversion of non-tabled predicates to tabled predicates by calling table/1. The example below prepares the predicate edge/2 and the non-terminal statement//1 for tabled execution.

:- table edge/2, statement//1.

In addition to using predicate indicators, a predicate can be declared for mode directed tabling using a term where each argument declares the intended mode. For example:

:- table connection(_,_,min).

Mode directed tabling is discussed in the general introduction section about tabling.

 untable(M:PIList) is det

Remove tabling for the predicates in PIList. This can be used to undo the effect of table/1 at runtime. In addition to removing the tabling instrumentation this also removes possibly associated tables using abolish_table_subgoals/1.

Arguments:

PIList

- is a comma-list that is compatible ith table/1.

 set_pattributes(:Head, +Options) is det[private]

Set all tabling attributes for Head. These have been collected using table_options/3 from the :- table Head as (Attr1,...) directive.

 start_tabling(:Closure, :Wrapper, :Implementation)

Execute Implementation using tabling. This predicate should not be called directly. The table/1 directive causes a predicate to be translated into a renamed implementation and a wrapper that involves this predicate.

Arguments:

Closure

- is the wrapper closure to find the predicate quickly. It is also allowed to pass nothing. In that cases the predicate is looked up using Wrapper. We suggest to pass 0 in this case.

Compatibility

- This interface may change or disappear without notice from future versions.

 restart_tabling(+Closure, +Wrapper, +Worker)[private]

We were aborted due to a deadlock. Simply retry. We sleep a very tiny amount to give the thread against which we have deadlocked the opportunity to grab our table. Without, it is common that we re-grab the table within our time slice and before the kernel managed to wakeup the other thread.

 start_subsumptive_tabling(:Closure, :Wrapper, :Implementation)

(*) We should not use trie_gen_compiled/2 here as this will enumerate all answers while '$tbl_answer_update_dl'/2 uses the available trie indexing to only fetch the relevant answer(s).

To be done

- In the end '$tbl_answer_update_dl'/2 is problematic with incremental and shared tabling as we do not get the consistent update view from the compiled result.

 wrapper_skeleton(+GenWrapper, +GenSkeleton, +Wrapper, -Skeleton)[private]

Skeleton is a specialized version of GenSkeleton for the subsumed new consumer.

 start_abstract_tabling(:Closure, :Wrapper, :Worker)

Deal with table p/1 as subgoal_abstract(N). This is a merge between variant and subsumptive tabling. If the goal is not abstracted this is simple variant tabling. If the goal is abstracted we must solve the more general goal and use answers from the abstract table.

Wrapper is e.g., user:p(s(s(s(X))),Y) Worker is e.g., call(<closure>(p/2)(s(s(s(X))),Y))

 done_leader(+Status, +Fresh, +Skeleton, -Clause)[private]

Called on completion of a table. Possibly destroys the component and generates the answers from the complete table. The last cases deals with leaders that are merged into a higher SCC (and thus no longer a leader).

 run_leader(+Skeleton, +Worker, +Fresh, -Status, -Clause) is det[private]

Run the leader of a (new) SCC, storing instantiated copies of Wrapper into Trie. Status is the status of the SCC when this predicate terminates. It is one of complete, in which case local completion finished or merged if running the completion finds an open (not completed) active goal that resides in a parent component. In this case, this SCC has been merged with this parent.

If the SCC is merged, the answers it already gathered are added to the worklist and we shift (suspend), turning our leader into an internal node for the upper SCC.

 delim(+Skeleton, +Worker, +WorkList, +Delays)[private]

Call WorkList and add all instances of Skeleton as answer to WorkList, conditional according to Delays.

Arguments:

Skeleton	- is the return skeleton (ret/N term)
Worker	- is either the (wrapped) tabled goal or a continuation
WorkList	- is the work list associated with Worker (or its continuation).
Delays	- is the current delay list. Note that the actual delay also include the internal global delay list. '$tbl_wkl_add_answer'/4 joins the two. For a dependency we join the two explicitly.

 start_moded_tabling(+Closure, :Wrapper, :Implementation, +Variant, +ModeArgs)

As start_tabling/2, but in addition separates the data stored in the answer trie in the Variant and ModeArgs.

 update(+Flags, +Head, +Module, +A1, +A2, -A3, -Action) is semidet

Update the aggregated value for an answer. Iff this predicate succeeds, the aggregated value is updated to A3. If Del is unified with true, A1 should be deleted.

Arguments:

Flags	- is a bit mask telling which of A1 and A2 are unconditional
Head	- is the head of the predicate
Module	- is the module of the predicate
A1	- is the currently aggregated value
A2	- is the newly produced value
Action	- is one of delete to replace the old answer with the new keep to keep the old answer and add the new done to stop the update process

 completion(+Component, -Status, -Clause) is det[private]

Wakeup suspended goals until no new answers are generated. Status is one of merged, completed or final. If Status is not merged, Clause is a compiled representation for the answer trie of the Component leader.

 $tbl_wkl_work(+WorkList, -Answer, -Continuation, -Wrapper, -TargetWorklist, -Delays) is nondet[private]

True when Continuation needs to run with Answer and possible answers need to be added to TargetWorklist. The remaining arguments are there to restore variable bindings and restore the delay list.

The suspension added by '$tbl_wkl_add_suspension'/2 is a term dependency(SrcWrapper, Continuation, Wrapper, WorkList, Delays). Note that:

• Answer and Goal must be unified to rebind the input arguments for the continuation.
• Wrapper is stored in TargetWorklist on successful completion of the Continuation.
• If Answer Subsumption is in effect, the story is a bit more complex and ModeArgs provide the binding over which we do aggregation. Otherwise, ModeArgs is the the reserved trie node produced by '$tbl_trienode'/1.

Arguments:

Answer	- is the answer term from the answer cluster (node in the answer trie). For answer subsumption it is a term Ret/ModeArgs
Goal	- to Delays are extracted from the dependency/5 term in the same order.

 tnot(:Goal)

Tabled negation.

(*): Only variant tabling is allowed under tnot/1.

 negation_suspend(+Goal, +Skeleton, +Worklist)[private]

Suspend Worklist due to negation. This marks the worklist as dealing with a negative literal and suspend.

The completion step will resume negative worklists that have no solutions, causing this to succeed.

 not_exists(:P) is semidet

Tabled negation for non-ground goals. This predicate uses the tabled meta-predicate tabled_call/1. The tables for tabled_call/1 must be cleared if `the world changes' as well as to avoid aggregating too many variants.

 $wfs_call(:Goal, :Delays)

Call Goal and provide WFS delayed goals as a conjunction in Delays. This predicate is the internal version of call_delays/2 from library(wfs).

 abolish_all_tables

Remove all tables. This is normally used to free up the space or recompute the result after predicates on which the result for some tabled predicates depend.

Abolishes both local and shared tables. Possibly incomplete tables are marked for destruction upon completion. The dependency graphs for incremental and monotonic tabling are reclaimed as well.

 abolish_table_subgoals(:Subgoal) is det

Abolish all tables that unify with SubGoal.

To be done

- : SubGoal must be callable. Should we allow for more general patterns?

 abolish_module_tables(+Module) is det

Abolish all tables for predicates associated with the given module.

 abolish_nonincremental_tables is det

Abolish all tables that are not related to incremental predicates.

 abolish_nonincremental_tables(+Options)

Allow for skipping incomplete tables while abolishing.

To be done

- Mark tables for destruction such that they are abolished when completed.

 current_table(:Variant, -Trie) is nondet

True when Trie is the answer table for Variant. If Variant has an unbound module or goal, all possible answer tries are generated, otherwise Variant is considered a fully instantiated variant and the predicate is semidet.

 table_options(+Options, +OptDictIn, -OptDictOut)[private]

Handler the ... as options ... construct.

 mode_check(+Moded, -TestCode)[private]

Enforce the output arguments of a mode-directed tabled predicate to be unbound.

 extract_modes(+ModeSpec, +Head, -Variant, -Modes, -ModedAnswer) is det[private]

Split Head into its variant and term that matches the moded arguments.

Arguments:

ModedAnswer

- is a term that captures that value of all moded arguments of an answer. If there is only one, this is the value itself. If there are multiple, this is a term s(A1,A2,...)

 separate_args(+ModeSpecArgs, +HeadArgs, -NoModesArgs, -Modes, -ModeArgs) is det[private]

Split the arguments in those that need to be part of the variant identity (NoModesArgs) and those that are aggregated (ModeArgs).

Arguments:

Args	- seems a copy of ModeArgs, why?

 updater_clauses(+Modes, +Head, -Clauses)[private]

Generates a clause to update the aggregated state. Modes is a list of predicate names we apply to the state.

 first(+S0, +S1, -S) is det

 last(+S0, +S1, -S) is det

 min(+S0, +S1, -S) is det

 max(+S0, +S1, -S) is det

 sum(+S0, +S1, -S) is det

Implement YAP tabling modes.

 $set_table_wrappers(:Head)

Clear/add wrappers and notifications to trap dynamic predicates. This is required both for incremental and monotonic tabling.

 mon_assert_dep(+Dependency, +Continuation, +Skel, +ATrie) is det[private]

Create a dependency for monotonic tabling. Skel and ATrie are the target trie for solutions of Continuation.

 monotonic_affects(+SrcTrie, +SrcReturn, -IsMono, -Continuation, -Return, -Atrie)[private]

Dependency between two monotonic tables. If SrcReturn is added to SrcTrie we must add all answers for Return of Continuation to Atrie. IsMono shares with Continuation and is used in start_tabling/3 to distinguish normal tabled call from propagation.

 monotonic_dyn_affects(:Head, -Continuation, -Return, -ATrie)[private]

Dynamic predicate that maintains the dependency from a monotonic

 wrap_monotonic(:Head)[private]

Prepare the dynamic predicate Head for monotonic tabling. This traps calls to build the dependency graph and updates to propagate answers from new clauses through the dependency graph.

 unwrap_monotonic(+Head)[private]

Remove the monotonic wrappers and dependencies.

 $start_monotonic(+Head, +Wrapped)

This is called the monotonic wrapper around a dynamic predicate to collect the dependencies between the dynamic predicate and the monotonic tabled predicates.

 monotonic_update(+Action, +ClauseRef)

Trap changes to the monotonic dynamic predicate and forward them.

 mon_propagate(+Action, +Head, +ClauseRef)[private]

Handle changes to a dynamic predicate as part of monotonic updates.

 propagate_assert(+Head) is det[private]

Propagate assertion of a dynamic clause with head Head.

 incr_propagate_assert(+Head) is det[private]

Propagate assertion of a dynamic clause with head Head, both through eager and dynamic tables.

 propagate_answer(+SrcTrie, +SrcSkel) is det[private]

Propagate the new answer SrcSkel to the answer table SrcTrie.

 pdelim(+Worker, +Skel, +ATrie)[private]

Call Worker (a continuation) and add each binding it provides for Skel to ATrie. If a new answer is added to ATrie, using propagate_answer/2 to propagate this further. Note that we may hit new dependencies and thus we need to run this using reset/3.

To be done

- Not sure whether we need full tabling here. Need to think of test cases.

 mon_invalidate_dependents(+Head)[private]

A non-monotonic operation was done on Head. Invalidate all dependent tables, preparing for normal incremental reevaluation on the next cycle.

 abolish_monotonic_tables

Abolish all monotonic tables and the monotonic dependency relations.

To be done

- : just prepare for incremental reevaluation?

 wrap_incremental(:Head) is det[private]

Wrap an incremental dynamic predicate to be added to the IDG.

 dyn_update(+Action, +Context) is det

Track changes to added or removed clauses. We use '$clause'/4 because it works on erased clauses.

To be done

- Add a '$clause_head'(-Head, +ClauseRef) to only decompile the head.

 unwrap_incremental(:Head) is det[private]

Remove dynamic predicate incremenal forwarding, reset the possible abstract property and remove possible tables.

 reeval(+ATrie, :Goal, ?Return) is nondet[private]

Called if the table ATrie is out-of-date (has non-zero falsecount). The answers of this predicate are the answers to Goal after re-evaluating the answer trie.

This finds all dependency paths to dynamic predicates and then evaluates the nodes in a breath-first fashion starting at the level just above the dynamic predicates and moving upwards. Bottom up evaluation is used to profit from upward propagation of not-modified events that may cause the evaluation to stop early.

Note that false paths either end in a dynamic node or a complete node. The latter happens if we have and IDG "D -> P -> Q" and we first re-evaluate P for some reason. Now Q can still be invalid after P has been re-evaluated.

Arguments:

ATrie	- is the answer trie. When shared tabling, we own this trie.
Goal	- is tabled goal (variant). If we run into a deadlock we need to call this.
Return	- is the return skeleton. We must run trie_gen_compiled(ATrie, Return) to enumerate the answers

 clean_paths(+PathsIn, -Paths)[private]

Clean the reevaluation paths. Get rid of the head term for ranking and remove duplicate paths. Note that a Path is a list of tries, ground terms.

 reeval_paths(+Paths, +Atrie)[private]

Make Atrie valid again by re-evaluating nodes in Paths. We stop as soon as Atrie is valid again. Note that we may not need to reevaluate all paths because evaluating the head of some path may include other nodes in an SCC, making them valid as well.

 false_path(+Atrie, -Path) is nondet[private]

True when Path is a list of invalid tries (bottom up, ending with ATrie). The last element of the list is a term s(Rank,Length,ATrie) that is used for sorting the paths.

If we find a table along the way that is being worked on by some other thread we wait for it.

 reeval_node(+ATrie) is semidet[private]

Re-evaluate the invalid answer trie ATrie. Initially this created a nested tabling environment, but this is dropped:

• It is possible for the re-evaluating variant to call into outer non/not-yet incremental tables, requiring a merge with this outer SCC. This doesn't work well with a sub-environment.
• We do not need one. If this environment is not merged into the outer one it will complete before we continue.

Fails if the node is not ready for evaluation. This is the case if it is valid or it is a lazy table that has invalid dependencies.

 reeval_nodes(+Nodes:list(trie)) is det[private]

After pulling in the monotonic answers into some node, this is a list if invalid dependencies. We must revaluate these and then pull in possible queued answers before we are done.

 answer_completion(+AnswerTrie, +Return) is det

Find positive loops in the residual program and remove the corresponding answers, possibly causing additional simplification. This is called from C if simplify_component() detects there are conditional answers after simplification.

Note that we are called recursively from C. Our caller prepared a clean new tabling environment and restores the old one after this predicate terminates.

author

- This code is by David Warren as part of XSB.

See also

- called from C, pl-tabling.c, answer_completion()

 delete_answers_for_failing_calls(-Propagated)[private]

Delete answers whose condition is determined to be false and return the number of additional answers that changed status as a consequence of additional simplification propagation.

 eval_dl_in_residual(+Condition)[private]

Evaluate a condition by only looking at the residual goals of the involved calls.

 eval_subgoal_in_residual(+AnswerTrie, ?Return)[private]

Derive answers for the variant represented by AnswerTrie based on the residual goals only.

 tripwire(+Wire, +Action, +Context)

Called from the tabling engine of some tripwire is exceeded and the situation is not handled internally (such as abstract and bounded_rationality.

 undefined is undefined

Expresses the value bottom from the well founded semantics.

 answer_count_restraint is undefined

 radial_restraint is undefined

Similar to undefined/0, providing a specific undefined for restraint violations.

Undocumented predicates

The following predicates are exported, but not or incorrectly documented.

 $tbl_answer(Arg1, Arg2, Arg3, Arg4)

 $moded_wrap_tabled(Arg1, Arg2, Arg3, Arg4, Arg5)

 radial_restraint

 abolish_shared_tables

 $wrap_tabled(Arg1, Arg2)

 abolish_private_tables