  Binary logic programs can be obtained from ordinary logic programs by a
binarizing transformation. In most cases, binary programs obtained this way are
less efficient than the original programs. (Demoen, 1992) showed an interesting
example of a logic program whose computational behaviour was improved when it
was transformed to a binary program and then specialized by partial deduction.
The class of B-stratifiable logic programs is defined. It is shown that for
every B-stratifiable logic program, binarization and subsequent partial
deduction produce a binary program which does not contain variables for
continuations introduced by binarization. Such programs usually have a better
computational behaviour than the original ones. Both binarization and partial
deduction can be easily automated. A comparison with other related approaches
to program transformation is given.
