Finite domain constraints in SICStus prolog

Presentation notes.</p

Specialising finite domain programs with polyhedra

A procedure is described for tightening domain constraints of finite domain logic programs by applying a static analysis based on convex polyhedra. Individual finite domain constraints are over-approximated by polyhedra to describe the solution space over ninteger variables as an n dimensional polyhedron. This polyhedron is then approximated, using projection, as an n dimensional bounding box that can be used to specialise and improve the domain constraints. The analysis can be implemented straightforwardly and an empirical evaluation of the specialisation technique is given

Solving Functional Constraints by Variable Substitution

Functional constraints and bi-functional constraints are an important constraint class in Constraint Programming (CP) systems, in particular for Constraint Logic Programming (CLP) systems. CP systems with finite domain constraints usually employ CSP-based solvers which use local consistency, for example, arc consistency. We introduce a new approach which is based instead on variable substitution. We obtain efficient algorithms for reducing systems involving functional and bi-functional constraints together with other non-functional constraints. It also solves globally any CSP where there exists a variable such that any other variable is reachable from it through a sequence of functional constraints. Our experiments on random problems show that variable elimination can significantly improve the efficiency of solving problems with functional constraints