MiniZinc: free and open-source constraint modeling language

#1

Post by bjourne » Sat, Jan 20, 2018, 5:09 PM UTC

MiniZinc: free and open-source constraint modeling language
minizinc.org

Re: MiniZinc: free and open-source constraint modeling language

#2

Post by crimsonalucard » Sat, Jan 20, 2018, 5:36 PM UTC

What is a constraint modeling language exactly? I briefly looked at the first example in the documentation, and it looks like you specify a problem and some type of solver solves the problem automatically? What algorithm is it running exactly?

Re: MiniZinc: free and open-source constraint modeling language

#3

Post by kaeluka » Sat, Jan 20, 2018, 5:49 PM UTC

crimsonalucard wrote: post #2

What is a constraint modeling language exactly? I briefly looked at the first example in the documentation, and it looks like you specify a problem and some type of solver solves the problem automatically? What algorithm is it running exactly?

It can run using a number of solvers, you can find a list here: http://www.minizinc.org/software.html

Re: MiniZinc: free and open-source constraint modeling language

#4

Post by chillydawg » Sat, Jan 20, 2018, 5:54 PM UTC

crimsonalucard wrote: post #2

What is a constraint modeling language exactly? I briefly looked at the first example in the documentation, and it looks like you specify a problem and some type of solver solves the problem automatically? What algorithm is it running exactly?

Possibly a simplex solve for a large linear problem.

Re: MiniZinc: free and open-source constraint modeling language

#5

Post by Macuyiko » Sat, Jan 20, 2018, 5:55 PM UTC

Every time some OR or constraint programming language comes up, Håkan Kjellerstrand is an obligatory mention. He has a whole page dedicated to problems and examples for those, including MiniZinc: http://www.hakank.org/minizinc/index.html

Re: MiniZinc: free and open-source constraint modeling language

#6

Post by dfan » Sat, Jan 20, 2018, 6:10 PM UTC

There's a good MOOC on Coursera on applied discrete optimization that uses MiniZinc: https://www.coursera.org/learn/basic-modeling

Re: MiniZinc: free and open-source constraint modeling language

#7

Post by bjourne » Sat, Jan 20, 2018, 6:15 PM UTC

crimsonalucard wrote: post #2

What is a constraint modeling language exactly? I briefly looked at the first example in the documentation, and it looks like you specify a problem and some type of solver solves the problem automatically? What algorithm is it running exactly?

It's a language for specifying problems that can be solved through constraint satisfaction. I'm unsure if such languages are even Turing complete. Their main advantage are insanely succinct problem specifications. F.e the n-queens problems: https://github.com/MiniZinc/minizinc-benchmarks/blob/master/... MiniZinc solves it for boards up to 100x100 in under a second.

Re: MiniZinc: free and open-source constraint modeling language

#8

Post by phkahler » Sat, Jan 20, 2018, 6:26 PM UTC

People need to specify what type of constraint their solver handles. It's a rather large space, and to not even mention what type of constraints on the page is a major oversight.

Re: MiniZinc: free and open-source constraint modeling language

#9

Post by Jeff_Brown » Sat, Jan 20, 2018, 6:32 PM UTC

phkahler wrote: post #8

People need to specify what type of constraint their solver handles. It's a rather large space, and to not even mention what type of constraints on the page is a major oversight.

Hear, hear. Is this good for optimization problems over the reals, or only finite-domain problems? If the former, can it solve nonlinear problems?

Re: MiniZinc: free and open-source constraint modeling language

#10

Post by mcphage » Sat, Jan 20, 2018, 6:42 PM UTC

phkahler wrote: post #8

People need to specify what type of constraint their solver handles. It's a rather large space, and to not even mention what type of constraints on the page is a major oversight.

MiniZinc itself is only a specification language, which a large number of solvers can use.