Krzysztof AptCambridge University Press, 1/7/2010EAN 9780521125499, ISBN10: 0521125499Paperback, 424 pages, 24.4 x 17 x 2.4 cmLanguage: EnglishConstraints 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. Introduction2. Constraint satisfaction problemsExamples3. Constraint programming in a nutshell4. Some complete constraint solvers5. Local consistency notions6. Some incomplete constraint solvers7. Constraint propagation algorithms8. Search9. General programming issuesBibliographyIndex.
