Computing loops with at most one external support rule

If a loop has no external support rules, then its loop formula is equivalent to a set of unit clauses; and if it has exactly one external support rule, then its loop formula is equivalent to a set of binary clauses. In this paper, we consider how to compute these loops and their loop formulas in a normal logic program, and use them to derive consequences of a logic program. We show that an iterative procedure based on unit propagation, the program completion and the loop formulas of loops with no external support rules can compute the same consequences as the "Expand" operator in smodels, which is known to compute the well-founded model when the given normal logic program has no constraints. We also show that using the loop formulas of loops with at most one external support rule, the same procedure can compute more consequences, and these extra consequences can help ASP solvers such as cmodels to find answer sets of certain logic programs.