Constraint programming: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 23:54, 1 February 2006

Revision as of 21:16, 8 February 2006

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'''Constraint programming''' is a [[programming paradigm]], in which a set of [[constraint]]s that a solution must meet are specified, rather than set of steps to obtain such a solution.

Constraint programming is related to [[logic programming]] and, since both are [[Turing-complete]], any logic program can be translated into an equivalent constraint program and ''vice versa''. ThisLogic isprograms are sometimes usefulconverted into practice,constraint programs since a constraint solving program may find an answerperform fasterbetter than a logic derivation program, and it might be desirable to perform this [[translation]] before executing a logic program.

The difference between the two is largely in their styles and approaches to modeling the world. Some problems are more natural (and thus, simpler) to write as logic programs, while some are more natural to write as constraint programs.