ECLiPSe Library Manual

Pascal Brisset - Hani El Sakkout - Thom Frühwirth - Carmen Gervet - Micha Meier - Stefano Novello - Thierry Le Provost - Joachim Schimpf - Kish Shen - Mark Wallace

Abstract:

This manual documents the major ECLiPSe libraries in particular the constaint solver libraries developed at ECRC and IC-Parc. They are enabling tools for the development and delivery of planning and scheduling applications. Since this is an area of active research and new developments, these libaries are subject to technical improvements, addition of new features and redesign as part of our ongoing work. Most of this software is now being developed and maintained in the context of the ICL-sponsored ECLiPSe-II project, but incorporates contributions from other projects at IC-Parc, in particular the European-funded CHIC-II project.

• Contents
• The Finite Domains Library
  • Terminology
  • Constraint Predicates
  • Arithmetic Constraint Predicates
  • Logical Constraint Predicates
  • Evaluation Constraint Predicates
  • CHIP Compatibility Constraints Predicates
  • Utility Constraints Predicates
  • Domain Output
  • Debugging Constraint Programs
  • Debugger Support
  • Examples
  • General Guidelines to the Use of Domains
  • User-Defined Constraints
    • The fd Attribute
    • Domain Access
    • Domain Operations
    • Accessing Domain Variables
    • Modifying Domain Variables
  • Extensions
  • Example of Defining a New Constraint
  • Program Examples
    • Constraining Variable Pairs
      • User-Defined Constraints
      • Using the element Constraint
      • Using Evaluation Constraints
      • Using Generalised Propagation
      • Using Constraint Handling Rules
    • Puzzles
    • Bin Packing
      • Capacity Constraints
      • Containment Constraints
      • Requirement Constraints
      • Exclusive Constraints
      • Atmost Constraints
      • Ordering Constraints
      • Labeling
  • Current Known Restrictions and Bugs
• Additional Finite Domain Constraints
  • Various Constraints on Lists
  • Cumulative Constraint and Resource Profiles
  • Edge-finder
• The Set Domain Library
  • Terminology
  • Syntax
  • The solver
  • Constraint predicates
  • Examples
    • Set domains and interval reasoning
    • Subset-sum computation with convergent weight
    • The ternary Steiner system of order n
  • When to use Set Variables and Constraints...
  • User-defined constraints
    • The abstract set data structure
    • Set Domain access
    • Set variable modification
  • Example of defining a new constraint
  • Set Domain output
  • Debugger
• Propia - A Library Supporting Generalised Propagation
  • Overview
  • Invoking and Using Propia
  • The Constraint Entailment Check
  • Approximate Generalised Propagation
  • Labeling in Propia
• The Constraint Handling Rules Library
  • Introduction
  • Using Constraint Handling Rules
  • Example Constraint Handlers
  • The CHR Language
    • Constraint Handling Rules
    • How CHRs Work
  • More on the CHR Language
    • Declarations
    • ECLiPSe Clauses
    • Options
    • CHR Built-In Predicates
  • Labeling
  • Writing Good CHR Programs
    • Choosing CHRs
    • Optimizations
  • Debugging CHR Programs
    • Using the Debugger
  • The Extended CHR Implementation
    • Invoking the extended CHR library
    • Syntactic Differences
    • Compiling
    • Semantics
      • Addition and removal of constraints
      • Executing Propagation and simpagation rules
    • Options and Built-In Predicates
    • Compiler generated predicates
• RANGE: A Basis For Numeric Solvers
  • Introduction
  • Usage
  • Library Predicates
    • Constraints
      • Vars :: Lo..Hi
      • reals(Vars)
      • integers(Vars)
      • lwb(+Var, +Bound)
      • upb(+Var, +Bound)
      • Examples
    • Retrieving Domain Information
      • var_range(+Var, -Lo, -Hi)
      • var_type(+Var, -Type)
    • Auxliliary Predicates
      • range_msg(+Var1, +Var2, ?Var3)
      • print_range(+Var, -Range)
    • Handlers
  • Attribute Structure
  • Writing Higher Level Constraints
• EPLEX: The ECLiPSe/CPLEX Interface
  • Usage
  • History
  • Ranged and Typed Variables
  • Modeling Language-Style Interface
    • Linear Constraints
      • X $= Y
      • X $>= Y
      • X $=< Y
    • Linear Expressions
    • Optimization
      • optimize(+Objective, -Cost)
    • Examples
  • Interface for CLP-Integration
    • Setting up Solvers
      • lp_setup(+NormConstraints, +Objective, +ListOfOptions, -Handle)
      • lp_set(+Handle, +What, +Value)
      • lp_cleanup(+Handle)
      • lp_read(+File, +Format, -Handle)
      • lp_write(+Handle, +Format, +File)
    • Triggering Solvers
      • lp_solve(+Handle, -Cost)
      • lp_demon_setup(+Objective, -Cost, +ListOfOptions, +Priority, +TriggerModes, -Handle
      • solution_out_of_range(+Handle)
      • instantiation_deviates(+Handle)
    • Accessing Solutions and other Solver State
      • lp_get(+Handle, +What, -Value)
    • Accessing Variable-Related Information
      • lp_var_get(+Var, +What, -Value)
    • Collecting Linear Constraints
      • collect_lp_constraints_norm(-NormConstraints)
      • normalise_cstrs(+Constraints, -NormConstraints, -NonlinConstr)
      • Constraints from other solvers
    • Low-Level Interface Examples
      • Definition of optimize/2
      • Setting up a Simplex-Demon
      • MIP-style Branch-and-Bound
    • Access to Global Solver Parameters
      • lp_get(optimizer, -Value)
      • lp_get(+ParamName, -Value)
      • lp_set(+ParamName, +Value)
      • int_tolerance(-Value)
  • External Solver Output and Log
  • Error Handling
• FDPLEX: A Hybrid Finite Domain / Simplex Solver
  • Motivation
  • Usage
  • Functionality
  • FDPLEX Predicates
    • minimize(+Goal, +Expr) and min_max(+Goal, +Expr)
    • indomain(+Var)
    • labeling(+VarList)
    • split_domain(+Var)
    • split_labeling(+VarList)
    • extract_lp_from_fd(-Constraints)
    • extract_lp_from_fd_norm(-NormConstraints)
    • fdplex_statistics([Backtracks, SolverCalls, SolverFails, SolverBound])
• REPAIR: Constraint-Based Repair
  • Introduction
  • Constraint Violation
    • Tentative Values and Tenability
    • The Global Assignment
    • Special Cases
      • Variables with No Tentative Value
      • Unification
  • The Basic Interface
    • Predicates
      • Vars tent_set Values
      • Vars tent_get Values
      • Constraint r
      • Constraint r_no_prop
      • Constraint r_prop
    • Example
  • The Labeling Interface
    • Purpose and Example
    • Predicates
      • conflict_constraints(-Constraints)
      • conflict_vars(-Vars)
      • poss_conflict_vars(-Vars)
      • tenable(Var)
• RIA: ECLiPSe Real Number Interval Arithmetic
  • Introduction
    • What Ria does
    • Usage
    • History
  • Library Predicates
    • Ranged and Typed Variables
    • Constraints
    • Arithmetic Expressions
    • Solving by Interval Propagation
    • Reducing Ranges Further
    • Setting the Arc-Propagation Threshold
    • Obtaining Solver Statistics
  • The Ria library algorithms
    • Arc consistency
    • Arc consistency threshold
    • Squash algorithm
• References
• About this document ...