Abstract
Constraint-programming languages represent an emerging paradigm for solving combinatorial problems, where programs define sets of variables and sets of constraints on these variables. The execution of a constraint program determines the values of the variables that satisfy the constraints. This paper enhances the notions of variable and constraint with characteristics of the object-oriented paradigm, such as abstraction and hierarchy. Variables become objects, semantically richer, that are instances of classes organized into a hierarchy, while constraints can be defined both on objects and classes. The semantics of the new model in terms of the traditional model is presented. This bears interesting consequences, such as the possibility to easily implement preprocessors that transform object-oriented constraint programs into traditional constraint programs. A design methodology to interactively define combinatorial problems is also presented. The models produced applying such a methodology are extremely compact and can be automatically executed. An example of application of the methodology to a real planning problem is presented. The number of constraints defined in the model is reduced of 21 times, compared to previous formulations.
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© 1994 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Paltrinieri, M. (1994). Integrating objects with constraint-programming languages. In: Bertino, E., Urban, S. (eds) Object-Oriented Methodologies and Systems. ISOOMS 1994. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 858. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0014029
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0014029
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