Unifying Framework for Optimizations in non-boolean Formalisms

Search-optimization problems are plentiful in scientific and engineering domains. Artificial intelligence has long contributed to the development of search algorithms and declarative programming languages geared towards solving and modeling search-optimization problems. Automated reasoning and knowledge representation are the subfields of AI that are particularly vested in these developments. Many popular automated reasoning paradigms provide users with languages supporting optimization statements. Recall integer linear programming, MaxSAT, optimization satisfiability modulo theory, and (constraint) answer set programming. These paradigms vary significantly in their languages in ways they express quality conditions on computed solutions. Here we propose a unifying framework of so called extended weight systems that eliminates syntactic distinctions between paradigms. They allow us to see essential similarities and differences between optimization statements provided by distinct automated reasoning languages. We also study formal properties of the proposed systems that immediately translate into formal properties of paradigms that can be captured within our framework. Under consideration in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming (TPLP).