# Specifying and Exploiting Non-Monotonic Domain-Specific Declarative Heuristics in Answer Set Programming

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.09066 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.09066/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 12 of its 71 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 19 Sep 2022.

## Builds on (most cited first, 12 of 12)

- [Multi-shot ASP solving with clingo](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1705.09811/) (2017)
- [OSMnx: New Methods for Acquiring, Constructing, Analyzing, and Visualizing Complex Street Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.01890/) (2016)
- [ASP-Core-2 Input Language Format](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.04326/) (2019)
- [Constraint Answer Set Programming without Grounding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.11162/) (2018)
- [The Seventh Answer Set Programming Competition: Design and Results](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.09134/) (2019)
- [Computing Stable Models of Normal Logic Programs Without Grounding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1709.00501/) (2017)
- [claspfolio 2: Advances in Algorithm Selection for Answer Set Programming](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1405.1520/) (2014)
- [Combining Answer Set Programming and Domain Heuristics for Solving Hard Industrial Problems (Application Paper)](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1608.00730/) (2016)
- [Routing Driverless Transport Vehicles in Car Assembly with Answer Set Programming](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.10437/) (2018)
- [Lazy Model Expansion: Interleaving Grounding with Search](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1402.6889/) (2014)
- [Degrees of Laziness in Grounding: Effects of Lazy-Grounding Strategies on ASP Solving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.12510/) (2019)
- [Exploiting Partial Knowledge in Declarative Domain-Specific Heuristics for ASP](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.08231/) (2019)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Investigating the Grounding Bottleneck for a Large-Scale Configuration Problem: Existing Tools and Constraint-Aware Guessing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.03850/) (2026)
- [An ASP-Based Framework for MUSes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.03929/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Domain-specific heuristics are an essential technique for solving combinatorial problems efficiently. Current approaches to integrate domain-specific heuristics with Answer Set Programming (ASP) are unsatisfactory when dealing with heuristics that are specified non-monotonically on the basis of partial assignments. Such heuristics frequently occur in practice, for example, when picking an item that has not yet been placed in bin packing. Therefore, we present novel syntax and semantics for declarative specifications of domain-specific heuristics in ASP. Our approach supports heuristic statements that depend on the partial assignment maintained during solving, which has not been possible before. We provide an implementation in ALPHA that makes ALPHA the first lazy-grounding ASP system to support declaratively specified domain-specific heuristics. Two practical example domains are used to demonstrate the benefits of our proposal. Additionally, we use our approach to implement informed} search with A*, which is tackled within ASP for the first time. A* is applied to two further search problems. The experiments confirm that combining lazy-grounding ASP solving and our novel heuristics can be vital for solving industrial-size problems.