An Open-Ended Finite Domain Constraint Solver

We describe the design and implementation of a finite domain constraint solver embedded in a Prolog system using an extended unification mechanism via attributed variables as a generic constraint interface. The solver is essentially a scheduler for indexicals, i.e. reactive functional rules encoding local consistency methods performing incremental constraint solving or entailment checking, and global constraints, i.e. general propagators which may use specialized algorithms to achieve a higher degree of consistency or better time and space complexity.

[1]  David L. Waltz,et al.  Understanding Line drawings of Scenes with Shadows , 1975 .

[2]  Patrick Henry Winston,et al.  The psychology of computer vision , 1976, Pattern Recognit..

[3]  Richard C. Larson,et al.  Model Building in Mathematical Programming , 1979 .

[4]  Ehud Shapiro,et al.  Third International Conference on Logic Programming , 1986 .

[5]  Thomas C. Henderson,et al.  Arc and Path Consistency Revisited , 1986, Artif. Intell..

[6]  Pascal Van Hentenryck,et al.  The Constraint Logic Programming Language CHIP , 1988, FGCS.

[7]  Dana S. Scott,et al.  Concurrent constraint programming languages , 1989 .

[8]  André Vellino,et al.  Constraint Arithmetic on Real Intervals , 1993, WCLP.

[9]  Pascal Van Hentenryck,et al.  The Cardinality Operator: A New Logical Connective for Constraint Logic Programming , 1990, WCLP.

[10]  Nicolas Beldiceanu,et al.  Extending CHIP in order to solve complex scheduling and placement problems , 1993, JFPL.

[11]  Pascal Van Hentenryck,et al.  Constraint processing in cc(fd) , 1992 .

[12]  William S. Havens,et al.  A language for optimizing constraint propagation , 1993 .

[13]  Mats Carlsson,et al.  SICStus Prolog User''s Manual , 1993 .

[14]  Philippe Codognet,et al.  A Minimal Extension of the WAM for clp(FD) , 1993, ICLP.

[15]  Jean-Charles Régin,et al.  A Filtering Algorithm for Constraints of Difference in CSPs , 1994, AAAI.

[16]  Pascal Van Hentenryck.  Logic Programming, Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Logic Programming, Santa Marherita Ligure, Italy, June 13-18, 1994 , 1994, ICLP.

[17]  Pascal Van Hentenryck,et al.  Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of the Constraint Language cc(FD) , 1994, Constraint Programming.

[18]  Philippe Codognet,et al.  Enhancing the Constraint-Solving Power of CLP(FD) by Means of Path-Consistency Methods , 1994, Constraint Programming.

[19]  Mats Carlsson,et al.  Entailment of Finite Domain Constraints , 1994, ICLP.

[20]  François Laburthe,et al.  Improved CLP Scheduling with Task Intervals , 1994, ICLP.

[21]  Nicolas Beldiceanu,et al.  Introducing global constraints in CHIP , 1994 .

[22]  Mats Carlsson,et al.  The implementation of AKL(FD) , 1995, ILPS.

[23]  Michel Leconte,et al.  Beyond the Glass Box: Constraints as Objects , 1995, ILPS.

[24]  Philippe Baptiste,et al.  A Theoretical and Experimental Comparison of Constraint Propagation Techniques for Disjunctive Scheduling , 1995, IJCAI.

[25]  Mats Carlsson,et al.  Compiling and Executing Disjunctions of Finite Domain Constraints , 1995, ICLP.

[26]  Gert Smolka,et al.  The Oz Programming Model , 1996, Computer Science Today.

[27]  Pascal Van Hentenryck,et al.  Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of the Constraint Language cc(FD) , 1994, Constraint Programming.