Tabular Constraint-Satisfaction Problems and Answer Set Programming

We argue that database query languages can be used to specif'y constraint satisfaction problems. We describe one such language here. It is based on tuple relational calculus and its sentences are used to define constraints. For a fragment of this language we develop a front end, Constraint Lingo, to facilitate programming tasks. Finally, we show that programs in Constraint Lingo can be compiled into DATALOG and its versions and processed by ASP solvers such as smodels.