Constraint Programming

Lectures:

24 h

Recommended for

Graduate students.

The course was last given:

Spring 1999.

Goals

The main goal of this course is to give an introduction to a new programming paradigm based on constraints over different domains, such as real (rational) numbers or finite domains. Special emphasis will be put on the practical use of these methods, in particular for solving combinatorial optimization problems.

Prerequisites

Basic course in programming. Knowledge of Prolog is an advantage but a short introduction to Prolog can be organized if needed.

Organization

Lectures given by the teachers and seminars prepared by the participants. Programming assignments on the selected topics.

Contents

• Introduction to constraint programming.
• Basic algorithms used in constraint programming systems (constraint satisfaction and simplification, optimization).
• Finite domain constraints.
• Constraint Logic Programming scheme.
• Simple modeling techniques.
• Modeling with finite domain constraints.
• Searching methods.
• Selected advanced issues.

Literature

Kim Mariott and Peter J. Stuckey "Programming with Constraints: An Introduction", The MIT Press, 1998. Selected papers and manuals.

Teachers

Ulf Nilsson, Jan Maluszynski

Examiner

Ulf Nilsson/Jan Maluszynski

Schedule

Fall 2001.

Examination

Programming assignments.

Credit

4-6 credits.