IDT: Integrated System for Debugging and Testing Prolog Programs*

In this paper the IDT (Interactive Diagnosis and Testing) system is presented which extends Shapiro's Interactive Diagnosis Algorithms with Category Partition Testing method. Shapiro's original system demands a lot of user interaction during the debugging; the user has to answer a large number of queries. The results of the debugging are the buggy clause and one of the following three types of errors: termination with incorrect output, termination with missing output and nontermination. The goal of the IDT system is to reduce the number of user interactions by introducing a test-database based on a Category Partition Testing specification of the target program. The CPM specification defines a classification over the input domain of the target program. Subsequently, each class is represented by one of its representative elements. The close relationship between the diagnosis algorithm and the inductive learning of logic programs provides the possibility to use the IDT system in the learning of logic programs as well.