Principles of Constraint Programming
Cambridge University Press, 1/7/2010
EAN 9780521125499, ISBN10: 0521125499
Paperback, 424 pages, 24.4 x 17 x 2.4 cm
Language: English
Constraints are everywhere: most computational problems can be described in terms of restrictions imposed on the set of possible solutions, and constraint programming is a problem-solving technique that works by incorporating those restrictions in a programming environment. It draws on methods from combinatorial optimisation and artificial intelligence, and has been successfully applied in a number of fields from scheduling, computational biology, finance, electrical engineering and operations research through to numerical analysis. This textbook for upper-division students provides a thorough and structured account of the main aspects of constraint programming. The author provides many worked examples that illustrate the usefulness and versatility of this approach to programming, as well as many exercises throughout the book that illustrate techniques, test skills and extend the text. Pointers to current research, extensive historical and bibliographic notes, and a comprehensive list of references will also be valuable to professionals in computer science and artificial intelligence.
1. Introduction
2. Constraint satisfaction problems
Examples
3. Constraint programming in a nutshell
4. Some complete constraint solvers
5. Local consistency notions
6. Some incomplete constraint solvers
7. Constraint propagation algorithms
8. Search
9. General programming issues
Bibliography
Index.