Constraint programming is a powerful paradigm for solving combinatorial search problems
that draws on a wide range of techniques from artificial intelligence, computer science …

There is no standard modelling language for constraint programming (CP) problems. Most
solvers have their own modelling language. This makes it difficult for modellers to …

We present Minion, a new constraint solver. Empirical results on standard benchmarks show
orders of magnitude performance gains over state-of-the-art constraint toolkits. These gains …

E ssence is a formal language for specifying combinatorial problems in a manner similar to
natural rigorous specifications that use a mixture of natural language and discrete …

Zinc is a new modelling language developed as part of the G12 project. It has four important
characteristics. First, Zinc allows specification of models using a natural mathematical-like …

When solving a combinatorial problem, the formulation or model of the problem is critical to
the efficiency of the solver. Automating the modelling process has long been of interest …

Essence is a new language for specifying combinatorial (decision or optimisation) problems
at a high level of abstraction. The key feature enabling this abstraction is the provision of …

NP search and decision problems occur widely in AI, and a number of general-purpose
methods for solving them have been developed. The dominant approaches include …

Publisher Summary This chapter examines that constraint programming can be a successful
technology for solving practical problems; however, there is abundant evidence that how the …

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the propagation-based finite domain constraint
programming systems—that is, systems that solve problems using constraint propagation …