Disjunctive programming and cooperating solvers

There are two fundamental themes in constraint programming. One is discrete or finite domain constraint programming based on the constraint satisfaction model. The other is continuous constraint programming based on linear programming and its extensions. In this paper we propose techniques for making constraint solvers of these different types cooperate: we present a scheduling application of the Dutch Railways and a new kind of algorithm for solving disjunctive programming problems, one which could not be developed without cooperating solvers. What emerges is that cooperating solvers, which have old roots in special purpose operations research methods, constitute a basic technology with potentially wide applicability.

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