How does this relate to using integer linear programming to solve linear constraint problems? Why would one use a dedicated language? When I model constraint satisfaction & optimization problems, I generally try to make linear models and define them using pulp in Python. The models are built by python programs; I feel using a dedicated domain-specific language is not so useful (you need general purpose computing to d…
Constraint Solving with MiniZinc
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Re: Constraint Solving with MiniZinc
#22How does this relate to using integer linear programming to solve linear constraint problems? Why would one use a dedicated language? When I model constraint satisfaction & optimization problems, I generally try to make linear models and define them using pulp in Python. The models are built by python programs; I feel using a dedicated domain-specific language is not so useful (you need general purpose computing to d…
How do you optimise a delivery route with specific window times for each drop off using a linear model? How do you schedule shifts for employees to satisfy business requirements without also violating their contracts? How do you fill a truck with the right combinations of goods so that it maximises the space used, but also doesn't unbalance the container, and can still be unloaded at each drop off using first in last…
Re: Constraint Solving with MiniZinc
#23Having used Minizinc for a few years now, it's a great tool. Minizinc makes it easy to spell out a problem, try different ways to formulate the same constraint, and run the same model on some external data through lots of different solvers to see which one works best. It comes with an enormous constraint catalogue adapted to each solver. Whether you then use PuLP, OR-tools, JuMP etc. (or even Minizinc itself) for the…
Re: Constraint Solving with MiniZinc
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do you optimise a delivery route with specific window times for each drop off using a linear model? How do you schedule shifts for employees to satisfy business requirements without also violating their contracts? How do you fill a truck with the right combinations of goods so that it maximises the space used, but also doesn't unbalance the container, and can still be unloaded at each drop off using first in last…
I believe you're trying to make a point about something, but all I can see are (rethorical?) questions.
Re: Constraint Solving with MiniZinc
#25If this is of interest to you, I can recommend the Coursera courses. They are very effective for introducing both MiniZinc and constraint-based modeling of problems.
Re: Constraint Solving with MiniZinc
#26Re: Constraint Solving with MiniZinc
#27If this is of interest to you, I can recommend the Coursera courses. They are very effective for introducing both MiniZinc and constraint-based modeling of problems.
If you don't mind sharing, how do you use these tools?
In the latter, my biggest use was to prototype how I’d solve a problem for my sister in her job (scheduling facilities maintenance in a way that didn’t interfere with planned experiments and tests, what maintenance work could be done and when to minimize conflicts with customer schedules). It worked as an example but couldn’t handle the full factors (well, my laptop and lack of experience optimizing models) and they continued relying on (mostly) human judgement (worked out well enough).
I also used it to make a soccer schedule. It worked better than my teammates attempt at making a scheduler from scratch (building both the solver and model). There are already systems for this that the league had available, it was more a “can I do this” challenge.
More important, to me, was learning about a class of solvers and what problems they were effective at solving. Even though I have no immediate need it expanded my knowledge so I know where to start in the future rather than (foolishly) starting from scratch. Or I can point others to it. I’ve seen many devs (myself at times too) reinvent the wheel because we don’t know what options are out there. I took the course to combat that behavior in myself and to better guide colleagues, plus it was fun.
(Apologies, on mobile. I have a few more paragraphs I could write but this is not the easiest entry mechanism for that.)
Re: Constraint Solving with MiniZinc
#28Re: Constraint Solving with MiniZinc
#29Re: Constraint Solving with MiniZinc
#30In similar vein to others asking "how does this compare with ..."; I'm reading a book on Prolog at the moment and would be interested if anyone has experience in both MiniZinc and Prolog and can compare them for constraint solving ?