$$\mathsf {Uhura}$$ : An Authoring Tool for Specifying Answer-Set Programs Using Controlled Natural Language

Abstract

In this paper, we present the tool$$\mathsf {Uhura}$$ for developing answer-set programs by means of specifying problem descriptions in a controlled natural language which then are translated into answer-set programming (ASP) rules. The tool is aimed for supporting users not familiar with answer-set programming—or logic-based approaches in general—for developing programs.$$\mathsf {Uhura}$$ is based on a new controlled natural language called$$\mathsf {L}^{\text {U}}$$, which is in turn an adaption of$$\mathsf {PENG}^{\text {ASP}}$$, a controlled natural language employed in the PENG ASP system, developed by Guy and Schwitter, for solving computational problems by translating$$\mathsf {PENG}^{\text {ASP}}$$ statements into answer-set programs. In contrast to$$\mathsf {PENG}^{\text {ASP}}$$,$$\mathsf {L}^{\text {U}}$$ allows for a more natural translation into ASP rules and provides also a broader set of pre-defined sentence patterns.$$\mathsf {Uhura}$$ is implemented in$$\mathsf {Java}$$ and employs$$\mathsf {DLV}$$ as backend answer-set solver.