An Introduction To Constraint Programming - Jacob Allen

As a programmer, computer scientist, computer engineer etc. there are many problems for which an algorithm can easily be determined or pulled from a text book, however, there is a class (or really two classes) of problems for which there are rarely such simple solutions: constraint problems. Luckily there exist powerful constraint programming tools to allow us to solve constraint problems using relatively simple concepts which often mirror how humans would solve the tasks.

In this talk I will introduce constraint programming and demonstrate how it can be used to solve complex problems efficiently, I will also show some examples of constraint solving programs and outline the simple underlying process by which they work.

[ItIsGuf]

17:40 How does floating point numbers lead to infinite domains?

[jcfreeify]

Hi Jacob, once the 7, 1, 8 & 2 are entered, you say you will guess from there but be prepared to back-track. But what if the 7, 1, 8, 2 configuration itself doesn't allow for any feasible solutions? Don't you have to be ready to backtrack all the way? i.e. there is no set number of initial guesses that you can assume for feasibility.