Answer set programming (ASP) is a declarative problem-solving approach oriented toward difficult search problems. Despite the progress and increasing popularity of ASP over the last decade, it is still not regarded as an established technology. There is still a long way to go; there are definitely many interesting research challenges remaining, and the field has a bright future. The authors of this book have put tremendous effort into providing readers with concise information about ASP that is easy to grasp.

The book starts with the motivation, introduction, and characterizations of advanced topics, and the research challenges involved are well described with examples and scientific references. Today, there are many programming and problem-solving techniques. At the same time, diverse disciplines are increasingly interested in finding ways to understand their research problems in more detail. The book is intended for readers who already have some background in informatics, programming, artificial intelligence, and so on. It may motivate programmers, students, and researchers from diverse fields to explore their relevant problems from a modeling perspective.

My strong recommendation of the book springs from a thorough reading of all its chapters, which inspired me to use ASP to explore my own research field from a modeling perspective.