Skip to main content

DPvis – A Tool to Visualize the Structure of SAT Instances

  • Conference paper
Book cover Theory and Applications of Satisfiability Testing (SAT 2005)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 3569))

Abstract

We present DPvis, a Java tool to visualize the structure of SAT instances and runs of the DPLL (Davis-Putnam-Logemann-Loveland) procedure. DPvis uses advanced graph layout algorithms to display the problem’s internal structure arising from its variable dependency (interaction) graph. DPvis is also able to generate animations showing the dynamic change of a problem’s structure during a typical DPLL run. Besides implementing a simple variant of the DPLL algorithm on its own, DPvis also features an interface to MiniSAT, a state-of-the-art DPLL implementation. Using this interface, runs of MiniSAT can be visualized—including the generated search tree and the effects of clause learning. DPvis is supposed to help in teaching the DPLL algorithm and in gaining new insights in the structure (and hardness) of SAT instances.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Sinz, C.: Visualizing the internal structure of SAT instances (preliminary report). In: Hoos, H.H., Mitchell, D.G. (eds.) SAT 2004. LNCS, vol. 3542. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Rish, I., Dechter, R.: Resolution versus search: Two strategies for SAT. J. Automated Reasoning 24, 225–275 (2000)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  3. Fruchterman, T., Reingold, E.: Graph drawing by force-directed placement. Software – Practice and Experience 21, 1129–1164 (1991)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Aspvall, M., Plass, M., Tarjan, R.: A linear-time algorithm for testing the trurh of certain quantified boolean formulas. Information Processing Letters 8 (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Park, T., Van Gelder, A.: Partitioning methods for satisfiability testing on large formulas. Information and Computation 162, 179–184 (2000)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  6. Slater, A.: Visualisation of satisfiability problems using connected graphs (2004), http://rsise.anu.edu.au/~andrews/problem2graph

  7. Monasson, R., Zecchina, R., Kirkpatrick, S., Selman, B., Troyansky, L.: Determining computational complexity from characteristic ’phase transitions’. Nature 400, 133–137 (1999)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  8. Di Battista, G., Eades, P., Tamassia, R., Tollis, I.: Algorithms for automatic graph drawing: An annotated bibliography. Computational Geometry 4, 235–282 (1994)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  9. Eades, P.: A heuristic for graph drawing. Congressus Numerantium 42, 149–160 (1984)

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  10. Eén, N., Sörensson, N.: An extensible SAT-solver. In: Giunchiglia, E., Tacchella, A. (eds.) SAT 2003. LNCS, vol. 2919, pp. 502–518. Springer, Heidelberg (2004)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  11. Singer, J., Gent, I., Smaill, A.: Backbone fragility and the local search cost peak. Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research 12, 235–270 (2000)

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  12. Selman, B.: Algorithmic adventures at the interface of computer science, statistical physics, and combinatorics. In: Wallace, M. (ed.) CP 2004. LNCS, vol. 3258, pp. 9–12. Springer, Heidelberg (2004)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Sinz, C., Dieringer, EM. (2005). DPvis – A Tool to Visualize the Structure of SAT Instances. In: Bacchus, F., Walsh, T. (eds) Theory and Applications of Satisfiability Testing. SAT 2005. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3569. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11499107_19

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11499107_19

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-26276-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-31679-4

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics