A Methodological View of Constraint Solving

  • Authors:
  • Hubert Comon;Mehmet Dincbas;Jean-Pierre Jouannaud;Claude Kirchner

  • Affiliations:
  • LSV, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan, 61 Ave. Président Wilson, 94235 Cachan Cedex, France;COSYTEC, Parc Club Orsay Université, 4 Rue Jean Rostand, 91893 Orsay Cedex, France;CNRS and LRI, Bat. 490, Université de Paris Sud, 91405 ORSAY Cedex, France;LORIA & INRIA, 615 Rue du Jardin Botanique, 54602 Villers-lès-Nancy Cedex, France

  • Venue:
  • Constraints
  • Year:
  • 1999

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Abstract

Constraints are an effective toolto define sets of data by means of logical formulae. Our goalhere is to survey the notion of constraint system and to giveexamples of constraint systems operating on various domains,such as natural, rational or real numbers, finite domains, andterm domains. We classify the different methods used for solvingconstraints, syntactic methods based on transformations, semanticmethods based on adequate representations of constraints, hybridmethods combining transformations and enumerations. The conceptsand methods are illustrated via examples. We also discuss applicationsof constraints to various fields, such as programming, operationsresearch, and theorem proving.