Minisearch: A solver-independent meta-search language for MiniZinc

Andrea Rendl, Tias Guns, Peter J. Stuckey, Guido Tack

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference paper

22 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Much of the power of CP comes from the ability to create complex hybrid search algorithms specific to an application. Unfortunately there is no widely accepted standard for specifying search, and each solver typically requires detailed knowledge in order to build complex searches. This makes the barrier to entry for exploring different search methods quite high. Furthermore, search is a core part of the solver and usually highly optimised. Any imposition on the solver writer to change this part of their system is significant. In this paper we investigate how powerful we can make a uniform language for meta-search without placing any burden on the solver writer. The key to this is to only interact with the solver when a solution is found. We present MINISEARCH, a meta-search language that can directly use any FLATZINC solver. Optionally, it can interact with solvers through an efficient C++ API. We illustrate the expressiveness of the language and performance using different solvers on a number of examples.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationPrinciples and Practice of Constraint Programming - 21st International Conference, CP 2015, Proceedings
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Pages376-392
Number of pages17
Volume9255
ISBN (Print)9783319232188
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015
Event21st International Conference on the Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming, CP 2015 - Cork, Ireland
Duration: 31 Aug 20154 Sep 2015

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume9255
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference21st International Conference on the Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming, CP 2015
Country/TerritoryIreland
CityCork
Period31/08/154/09/15

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