Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSP) consist of a finite set of variables, each associated with a finite domain, and a set of constraints which restrict simultaneous assignments to variables. A Meta-CSP is CSP formulation of a combinatorial problem which builds on lower-level CSPs.
This software framework provides tools for developing solvers for problems that can be cast as Meta-CSPs. The framework includes several built-in CSP and Meta-CSP problem solvers which can be used as "ingredients" for defining more sophisticated solvers. Among these, hybrid problem solvers which exemplify the natural predisposition of Meta-CSPs for solving hybrid reasoning problems.
Developers can refer to the API documentation (Javadoc) for reference, and to the examples below for getting started.
The Meta-CSP Framework is available on Maven Central.
Maven dependency declaration:
<dependency>
<groupId>org.metacsp</groupId>
<artifactId>meta-csp-framework</artifactId>
<version>1.1.3</version>
</dependency>
Gradle dependency declaration:
compile 'org.metacsp:meta-csp-framework:1.1.3'
Alternatively, get the latest binary, source and Javadoc JARs from the Maven Central website.
The framework as well as the API documentation (Javadoc) can be built through Gradle. A Gradle redistributable is included in the master branch, so there is no need to install Gradle on your machine.
Enter the directory with the file build.gradle and issue the command:
$ ./gradlew install #(on Unix-based systems)
$ gradlew.bat install #(on Windows-based systems)
To test the build, issue the following:
$ ./gradlew run #(on Unix-based systems)
$ gradlew.bat run #(on Windows-based systems)
The clean target will clean up the build directory. The target javadoc can be used to generate the API documentation (Javadoc), which will be placed in build/docs/javadoc.
If developing in Eclipse, consider using the eclipse target:
$ ./gradlew eclipse #(on Unix-based systems)
$ gradlew.bat eclipse #(on Windows-based systems)
This will prepare the directory with .classpath, .settings and .project files. The directory can then be used as source for a new Eclipse project which will have all dependencies properly set.
The install target builds the artifact meta-csp-framework-0.0.0-SNAPSHOT.jar, and places it into your local Maven repository (the location is ~/.m2/repository/org/metacsp/meta-csp-framework/ on a Unix-based system). You can use the newly compiled version of the framework in another Gradle-based project by including the following in the project's build.gradle:
repositories {
mavenLocal()
//any other repo you may need for your project
}
dependencies {
compile 'org.metacsp:meta-csp-framework:0.0.0-SNAPSHOT'
//any other dependency you may have
}