Combining Top-down and Bottom-up Techniques in Inductive Logic Programming

Abstract

This paper describes a new method for inducing logic programs from examples which attempts to integrate the best aspects of existing ILP methods into a single coherent framework. In particular, it combines a bottom-up method similar to GOLEM with a top-down method similar to FOIL. It also includes a method for predicate invention similar to CHAMP and an elegant solution to the “noisy oracle” problem which allows the system to learn recursive programs without requiring a complete set of positive examples. Systematic experimental comparisons to both GOLEM and FOIL on a range of problems are used to clearly demonstrate the advantages of the approach.