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An open-ended finite domain constraint solver

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Programming Languages: Implementations, Logics, and Programs (PLILP 1997)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1292))

Abstract

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.

The solver has an open-ended design: the user can introduce new constraints, either in terms of indexicals by writing rules in a functional notation, or as global constraints via a Prolog programming interface. Constraints defined in terms of indexicals can be linked to 0/1-variables modeling entailment; thus indexicals are used for constraint solving as well as for entailment testing. Constraints can be arbitrarily combined using the propositional connectives by automatic expansion to systems of reified constraints.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. SICS, PO Box 1263, S-164 29, Kista, Sweden

    Mats Carlsson

  2. Computing Science Dept., Uppsala University, PO Box 311, S-751 05, Uppsala, Sweden

    Greger Ottosson

  3. Xerox PARC, 3333 Coyote Hill Road, 94304, Palo Alto, CA, USA

    Björn Carlson

Authors
  1. Mats Carlsson
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  2. Greger Ottosson
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  3. Björn Carlson
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Editor information

Hugh Glaser Pieter Hartel Herbert Kuchen

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© 1997 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Carlsson, M., Ottosson, G., Carlson, B. (1997). An open-ended finite domain constraint solver. In: Glaser, H., Hartel, P., Kuchen, H. (eds) Programming Languages: Implementations, Logics, and Programs. PLILP 1997. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1292. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0033845

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0033845

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-63398-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-69537-0

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