A Perspective on Knowledge Compilation

Adnan Darwiche, Pierre Marquis

Abstract: We provide a perspective on knowledge compilation which calls for analyzing different compilation approaches according to two key dimensions: the succinctness of the target compilation language, and the class of queries and transformations that the language supports in polytime. We argue that such analysis is necessary for placing new compilation approaches within the context of existing ones. We also go beyond classical, flat target compilation languages based on CNF and DNF, and consider a richer, nested class based on directed acyclic graphs, which we show to include a relatively large number of target compilation languages.