Constraint Programming Paradigm

InParadigmconstraint Programmingconstraint this chapter we describe the constraint programming paradigm, a third approach to declarative programming which has a wide range of applications in artificial intelligence. We will discuss the main ideas behind Constraint programming, or Cp for short, and we will illustrate the two main approaches to Cp: Constraint logic programs (Clp) and constraint programming in the context of an imperative language. For the latter approach we will use MiniZinc as a reference language. As for the previous chapters, here we do not want to teach programming in Clp, MiniZinc or in any other specific language, rather we intend to provide enough background for appreciating the huge potential of constraint programming in many application areas and for learning in a short time a concrete language.