The objective-CP optimization system

Abstract

Objective-CP is an optimization system that views an optimization program as the combination of a model, a search, and a solver. Models in Objective-CP follow the modeling style of constraint programming and are concretized into specific solvers. Search procedures are specified in terms of high-level nondeterministic constructs, search combinators, and node selection strategies. Objective-CP supports fully transparent parallelization of multi-start and branch & bound algorithms. The implementation of Objective-CP is based on a sequence of model transformations, followed by a concretization step. Moreover, Objective-CP features a constraint-programming solver following a micro-kernel architecture for ease of maintenance and extensibility. Experimental results show the practicability of the approach. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.