We take up an idea from the folklore of Answer Set Programming, namely that choices, integrity constraints along with a restricted rule format is sufficient for Answer Set Programming. We elaborate upon the foundations of this idea in the context of the logic of Here-and-There and show how it can be derived from the logical principle of extension by definition. We then provide an austere form of logic programs that may serve as a normalform for logic programs similar to conjunctive normalform in classical logic. Finally, we take the key ideas and propose a modeling methodology for ASP beginners and illustrate how it can be used.

This is a preliminary work on configuration knowledge representation which serves as a foundation for building interactive configuration systems in Answer Set programming (ASP). The major concepts of the product configuration problem are identified and discussed with a bike configuration example. A fact format is developed for expressing product knowledge that is domain-specific and can be mapped from other systems. Finally, a domain-independent ASP encoding is provided that represents the concepts in the configuration problem.