Outline

CMPE532 Constraint Programming Course Description:

Many computational problems can formulated as variables that take values from a certain domain, and restrictions on those values.  Constraint  programming is a problem solving technique that incorporates the idea of specifying a solution in terms of variables and restrictions on the values the variables. It benefits from methods and techniques of  operations research, programming languages and artificial intelligence. It has been successfully applied to problems in scheduling, combinatorial optimization, diagnosis and reasoning, among others.

Textbook:

Programming with Constraints: An Introduction, by Kim Marriott and Peter J. Stuckey. The MIT press, 1998.

Reference Books:

• Logic, Programming and Prolog. By: Ulf Nilsson and Jan Maluszynski. (Errata)
• A gentle guide to constraint programming via Eclipse. By Antoni Niederlinski.
• Constraint processing. By: Rina Dechter. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. 2003. ISBN: 1-55860-890-7
• Principles of Constraint Programming. By: Krzysztof R. Apt. Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN: 0-521-82583-0
• Constraint Logic Programming using Eclipse. By Krzysztof R Apt. and Mark Wallace. Cambridge University Press, 2007

Course outline

• Constraints
• Simplification, Optimization and Implication
• Finite Domain Constraints
• Constraint Logic Programs                                  CLP.pl_
  
• Simple Modelling                                                   simple-modelling.pl_
  
• Using Data Structures                                           data-structures.pl_
  
• Controlling Search                                                 search.pl_
  
• Modelling with Finite Domain Constraints        clpfd.pl_
  
• Advanced Programming Techniques                  advanced.pl_
  
• CLP Systems

We shall follow the book closely. The topics above  are actually chapters of  our textbook, with links to the material for each chapter.

• "Hands-on introduction" to Logic Programming, 
• The Prolog Language,
• Efficiency Issues in Prolog
• Sample Eclipse Programs
• Others

Download the Eclipse system and documentation here.

Grading:

• Midterm 40%
• Final 40%
• Project,  20%

DEPARTMENTAL POLICY ON TAKING  MAKEUP EXAMS

 You can take a make-up for an exam only if you are sick and provide a doctor’s report within 3 working days of the exam.