Jan 2025

Constraint Programming: an inroduction

Dr Ing. Houndji V. Ratheil

https://ratheil.info
 Lecturer-Researcher at UAC

Houndji Vinasetan Ratheil

https://ratheil.info

Teaching experience (since my PhD thesis)

- Arti cial Intelligence since 2014
- Optimisation since 2015
- Object Oriented Modelling/Programming
- Reliability of Information System
- etc.

Head of Software Engineering department at IFRI, UAC

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 Outline

General Introduction

Global Constraints

How CP works concretely ?

Take Away Message

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 General Introduction

Constraint Programming (CP) is a paradigm derived from artificial

intelligence, operational research, and algorithmic that can be used to
solve combinatorial optimization problems.

CP solves problems by interleaving search (assigning a value to an

unassigned variable) and propagation (removing inconsistent values).

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 General Introduction
Constraint Programming allows a declarative description of the problem to solve.

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 General Introduction
Constraint Programming allows a declarative description of the problem to solve.

Other declarative approaches : Logic Programming, Operations Research

Find a formal representation of

Find a mathematical formulation of the problem
the knowledge with logical rules

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 General Introduction

In CP we would like to describe the problem in natural “english” language.

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 General Introduction

In CP we would like to describe the problem in natural “english” language.

In practice it looks like

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 CP Applications
Agricultural land allocation
Production Planning
Rail Applications

Vehicule Routing

Scheduling

Tra c Engineering

and much more… 9

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 A library of problems

A live demo with OscaR

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 A library of problems

CSPLib: A problem library for constraints

h ps://www.csplib.org/

This library presents a list of 92 problems

in 14 categories proposed by 70 authors.
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 General Introduction

CSP = (X, D, C)

Variables Xi Domains Constraints

D(Xi )

Solution of CSP: Model

- An assignment of all variables +
Resolution
- All constraints are satis able

COP (Constraint Optimisation Problem):

CSP + objectif function(s)
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 General Introduction

CSP = (X, D, C)

Variables Xi Domains Constraints

D(Xi )

Example: X1 2 {1, 2} X2 2 {1, 2} X1 6= X2

A solution ?

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 Modeling : an example 1

A farmer sends his son to the market with XOF100.000. With

this XOF100.000, the son must buy a hundred animals. He has
to come back to the farm with the 100 animals and he has to
spend the full XOF100.000. A chick costs XOF500, a pig
XOF5.000, and an ox XOF20.000. The son must buy at least
one animal of each species.
How many chicks, pigs, and oxen will the son have?

To do : propose a CP model for this problem.

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 Modeling : an example 2

Coin return problem

We are interested in a beverage vending machine.
The user inserts coins for a total of T fcfa, then selects a drink,
the price of which is P fcfa. It is necessary to calculate the
change to be returned, knowing that the distributor has in
reserve E2 coins of 200f, E1 coins of 100f, C50 coins of 50f,
C25 coins of 25f, and C10 coins of 10f.

To do : propose a CP model for this problem.

What should be added if we want to minimize the number of

coins to be returned.
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 Modeling : an example 3
The steelworks
A small steel mill (steel manufacturing plant) must decide on
the allocation for the next week (40 hours in total) of its rolling
mill (machine used to reduce the thickness of materials). This
processes un nished steel plates and can produce two types of
semi- nished products, strips and rolls. The rolling mill can
produce 200 strips or 140 rolls per hour, knowing that a strip
brings in $25 and a roll $30. Finally, it is not necessary to
produce more than the total of the programmed orders, namely
6000 strips and 4000 rolls.
Determine the respective quantities to be produced to
maximize pro t.

To do : propose a CP model for this problem. 16

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 General Introduction

Model
+
Resolution

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 General Introduction
CSP = (X, D, C)

Variables Xi Domains Constraints

D(Xi )

Model
+
Resolution

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 General Introduction
CSP = (X, D, C)

Variables Xi Domains Constraints

D(Xi )
Example X1 2 {1, 2} X2 2 {1, 2} X1 6= X2
Model
+
Resolution

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 General Introduction
CSP = (X, D, C)

Variables Xi Domains Constraints

D(Xi )

Model
+
Resolution

Filtering + Search

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 General Introduction
CSP = (X, D, C)

Variables Xi Domains Constraints

D(Xi )

Model
+
Resolution

Filtering + Search

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 General Introduction

Resolution in CP : an intuition

Fruit seeking

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General Introduction

Solution = Fruit

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General Introduction

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 General Introduction

Example: X1 2 {1, 2} X2 2 {1, 2} X1 6= X2

X1 = 1 X1 = 2

Search
X2 = 1 X2 = 2 X2 = 2
X2 = 1

(1, 2) (2, 1)
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 General Introduction

Example : X1 2 {1, 2} X2 2 {1, 2} X1 6= X2

X1 = 1 X1 = 2

Filtering
X2 = 1 X2 = 2 X2 = 2
X2 = 1

(1, 2) (2, 1)
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 General
CP in Introduction
One slide

Filtering removes inconsistent values

Example 2:

X Y +2

X 2 {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} Y 2 {2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

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 General
CP in Introduction
One slide

Filtering removes inconsistent values

Example 2:

X Y +2

X 2 {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} Y 2 {2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

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 General Introduction

CP = Search + Filtering
Too small

Too big
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 Outline

General Introduction

Global Constraints

How CP works concretely ?

Take Away Message

 Global Constraints
Global constraint :
- A constraint reasoning on many variables at the same time
- Specialized, powerful ltering

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 Global Constraints
Global constraint :
- A constraint reasoning on many variables at the same time
- Specialized, powerful ltering
Example : allDif f erent(X1 , X2 , X3 )

X2 2 {1, 2, 3}
X1 #X2 X2 #X3

X1 2 {1, 2} X3 2 {1, 2}
X1 #X3

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 Global Constraints
Cost-based ltering
- Filtering for optimization constraint
- Effective for optimization problem

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 Global Constraints
Cost-based ltering
- Filtering for optimization constraint
- Effective for optimization problem
Example : allDif f erent(X1 , X2 , X3 )

X2 2 {1, 2, 3}
X1 #X2 X2 #X3

X1 2 {1, 2} X3 2 {1, 2}
X1 #X3

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 Global Constraints
Cost-based ltering
- Filtering for optimization constraint
- Effective for optimization problem
X
Example : allDif f erent(X1 , X2 , X3 ) with (Xi = j) · cost(Xi j)  K
i
3 2 4 K 2 [0, . . . , 10]
X2 2 {1, 2, 3}
X1 #X2 X2 #X3
4 2 2 4
X1 2 {1, 2} X3 2 {1, 2}
X1 #X3

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 Global Constraints
Cost-based ltering
- Filtering for optimization constraint
- Effective for optimization problem
X
Example : allDif f erent(X1 , X2 , X3 ) with (Xi = j) · cost(Xi j)  K
i
3 2 4 K 2 [0, . . . , 10]
X2 2 {1, 2, 3}
X1 #X2 X2 #X3
4 2 2 4
X1 2 {1, 2} X3 2 {1, 2}
X1 #X3

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 Global Constraints
Cost-based ltering
- Filtering for optimization constraint
- Effective for optimization problem
X
Example : allDif f erent(X1 , X2 , X3 ) with (Xi = j) · cost(Xi j)  K
i
3 2 4 K 2 [0, . . . , 10]
X2 2 {1, 2, 3}
X1 #X2 X2 #X3
4 2 2 4
X1 2 {1, 2} X3 2 {1, 2}
X1 #X3

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 Global Constraints
Cost-based ltering
- Filtering for optimization constraint
- Effective for optimization problem
X
Example : allDif f erent(X1 , X2 , X3 ) with (Xi = j) · cost(Xi j)  K
i
3 2 4 K 2 [0, . . . , 10]
X2 2 {1, 2, 3}
minAssignment
X1 #X2 X2 #X3
4 2 2 4
X1 2 {1, 2} X3 2 {1, 2}
X1 #X3

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 Global Constraints

Cost-based ltering
Filtering for op miza on constraint

E ec ve for op miza on problem

Mainly based on:

an optimal solution of a related (relaxed) problem

the optimal value of this solution is used to filter the objective variable

an op mis c evalua on of the cost increase if a value is assigned to a variable

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 Global Constraints: Catalog

A catalog of more than 400 global constraints.

h p://sofdem.github.io/gccat/

This catalog presents a list of 423 global constraints

issued from the literature in constraint programming and from popular constraint systems.
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 Global Constraints

Some examples

allDifferent

globalCardinalityConstraint

minimumAssignment

regular

binPacking

stockingCost

minimumArborescence

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 Outline

General Introduction

Global Constraints

How CP works concretely ?

Take Away Message

42
 How CP works concretely?

Model
CP solver: A library of constraints +
Resolution

CP Modelling = Putting together the different constraints of the problem.

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 CP Solvers Catalog

Many CP-solvers exist to ease the implementation of model.

http://openjvm.jvmhost.net/CPSolvers/

This catalog presents a list of 35 CP based solvers (August 13, 2018).

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 How CP works concretely?

A live demo with the solver OscaR.

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How CP works concretely?

A vehicule routing model

Put together the different constraints.

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 The job of a constraint !
• Given the status of the domain, do you think that you still have a
solution?

• Remove the values from the domains that you think are impossible in
a solution (= filtering or pruning)

variables and
domains
A constraint in action!

Impossible values

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 How CP works concretely?

allDifferent: A stronger Filtering Algorithm

• Remove any impossible values

x1= x3= x5=
x6= x8= x9=
{1,2,3, x2={2} {1,2,3, x4= {1} {1,2,3, x7= {3}
{6,7,8} {6,7,8,9} {6,7,8}
4,5} 4,5} 4,5,6}

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 How CP works concretely?

allDifferent: A stronger Filtering Algorithm

• Remove any impossible values

1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3,
2 1 6,7,8 3 6,7,8,9 6,7,8
4,5 4,5 4,5,6

after pruning

2 1 6 7,8 3 9 7,8
4,5 4,5

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 How CP works concretely?

allDifferent: A stronger Filtering Algorithm

• Remove any impossible values

1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3,
2 1 6,7,8 3 6,7,8,9 6,7,8
4,5 4,5 4,5,6

after pruning

4,5 2 4,5 1 6 7,8 3 9 7,8

 A more global reasoning

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 How CP works concretely?

allDifferent: Basic (fast) Filtering Algorithm

• As soon as a variable xi has a single value v
Remove v from the domain of every other variable
allDifferent
1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2,3,
2 1 6,7,8 3 6,7,8,9 6,7,8
4,5 4,5 4,5,6

after pruning

4,5 2 4,5 1 4,5,6 6,7,8 3 6,7,8,9 6,7,8

Weak pruning for allDifferent is fast and easy to implement but

does not remove all inconsistent values
Pierre Schaus 51
Global Filtering for allDifferent (J-C. Régin Algorithm, 95)
• Build the variable-value graph

X1

X2

X3

X4

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Global Filtering for allDifferent (J-C. Régin Algorithm, 95)

1
Consistency Check:
• There is a solution to X1
allDifferent([X1,X2,X3,X4]) iff 2
there is a maximum matching
M (of size 4) in the variable X2
value graph 3
Filtering:
X3
• Remove edges that do not
belong to some maximum 4
matching
X4

Requires to compute Strongly

connected components in
residual graph
 How CP works concretely?

Each constraint must remove impossible values.

Yes but the pruning of one constraint might trigger
new deductions for other constraints…

C1(X1, C2(X2,X4, Constraint Store

Domain Store
X1 ∈ {1,3}
X4 ∈ {9} X3 ∈ {1,2,5,6} C3(X1,
C7(X1,X2,
X5 ∈ {3,4,5,8,10}

X2 ∈ {1,,4,9,11}

C6(X4, C5(X1,X2,X3,X

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 How CP works concretely?

Fix-Point Algorithm

repeat
select a constraint c
if c is OK wrt the domain store
apply filtering algorithm of c
else
return KO
until no value can be removed

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Back to our gold seeker illustration
lgo
A
int
o
x -p
Fi P
sum( X[] ): i X(i) = 0

allDifferent( X[] ):
8i < j : X(i) 6= X(j)

regular( X[] ):

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 How CP works concretely?

Fix-Point Example
Constraint Store
allDifferent(x1,x2,x3)

x1+x2=x3
x2 <= x1

Domain Store
x1∈{0,1,2,4}
x2∈{2,4}
x3∈{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}

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 How CP works concretely?

Constraint Store
allDifferent(x1,x2,x3)

x1+x2=x3
x2 <= x1

Domain Store
x1∈{0,1,2,4}
x2∈{2,4}
x3∈{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}

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 How CP works concretely?

Constraint Store
allDifferent(x1,x2,x3)

x1+x2=x3
x2 <= x1

Domain Store
x1∈{0,1,2,4}
x2∈{2,4}
x3∈{2,3,4,5,6,7,8}

ps: We assume the sum constraint only reasons on bounds of the domains 59
 How CP works concretely?

Constraint Store
allDifferent(x1,x2,x3)

x1+x2=x3
x2 <= x1

Domain Store
x1∈{0,1,2,4}
x2∈{2,4}
x3∈{2,3,4,5,6,7,8}

ps: We assume the sum constraint only reasons on bounds of the domains 60
 How CP works concretely?

Constraint Store
allDifferent(x1,x2,x3)

x1+x2=x3
x2 <= x1

Domain Store
x1∈{0,1,2,4}
x2∈{2,4}
x3∈{2,3,4,5,6,7,8}

ps: We assume the sum constraint only reasons on bounds of the domains 61
 How CP works concretely?

Constraint Store
allDifferent(x1,x2,x3)

x1+x2=x3
x2 <= x1

Domain Store
x1∈{2,4}
x2∈{2,4}
x3∈{2,3,4,5,6,7,8}

ps: We assume the sum constraint only reasons on bounds of the domains 62
 How CP works concretely?

Constraint Store
allDifferent(x1,x2,x3)

x1+x2=x3
x2 <= x1

Domain Store
x1∈{2,4}
x2∈{2,4}
x3∈{2,3,4,5,6,7,8}

ps: We assume the sum constraint only reasons on bounds of the domains 63
 How CP works concretely?

Constraint Store
allDifferent(x1,x2,x3)

x1+x2=x3
x2 <= x1

Domain Store
x1∈{2,4}
x2∈{2,4}
x3∈{4,5,6,7,8}

ps: We assume the sum constraint only reasons on bounds of the domains 64
 How CP works concretely?

Constraint Store
allDifferent(x1,x2,x3)

x1+x2=x3
x2 <= x1

Domain Store
x1∈{2,4}
x2∈{2,4}
x3∈{4,5,6,7,8}

ps: We assume the sum constraint only reasons on bounds of the domains 65
 How CP works concretely?

Constraint Store
allDifferent(x1,x2,x3)

x1+x2=x3
x2 <= x1

Domain Store
x1∈{2,4}
x2∈{2,4}
x3∈{5,6,7,8}

ps: We assume the sum constraint only reasons on bounds of the domains

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 How CP works concretely?
Fix-Point! but not a solution yet …
We need to search …
Constraint Store

allDifferent(x1,x2,x3)
x1+x2=x3

x2 <= x1
Domain Store

x1∈{2,4}
x2∈{2,4}
x3∈{5,6,7,8}

ps: We assume the sum constraint only reasons on bounds of the domains 67
 How CP works concretely?

Model Example: n-Queens in OscaR CP

object Queens extends App with CPModel {

val n = 12 //number of queens

val Queens = 0 until n
//variables
val queens = for (i <- Queens) yield CPIntVar(1 to n) variables and
domains
onSolution { nSol += 1 }

add(allDifferent(queens)) constraints
add(allDifferent(for (i <- Queens) yield queens(i) + i))
add(allDifferent(for (i <- Queens) yield queens(i) - i))

search {
binaryFirstFail(queens) default search
}
start()
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}
 How CP works concretely?

Optimization with CP
// your constraints // your constraints
cp.minimize(objVar) } search {
} search { branching(decVars)
} onSolution {
branching(decVars)
updateBound()
} start()
} start()

4 25

600
5 10 26 41

6 9 11 18 27 34 550

Objective
7 8 12 13 19 20 28 31 35 40
500
14 17 21 24 29 30 32 33 36 37

450
15 16 22 23 38 39

400
Best solution 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Node Number 69
 How CP works concretely?

Large Neighborhood Search

Search Algo: « No gold here!

I should not wait too long before moving at
another place »

It seems there
is no good solution here!
I should not wait too long
before moving at another
place 70
 How CP works concretely?

Large Neighborhood Search

Search Algo: « I change my strategy,
I’ll visit randomly other places for limited
amount of time »

relax S ⇤

relax S ⇤

relax S ⇤
 Outline

General Introduction

Global Constraints

How CP works concretely ?

Take Away Message

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 Take away message

You must experiment CP !!

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 Take away message

Xi = V Xi != V

Constraint Store
Constraints

Domain store

Fix-Point Algo
repeat
select a constraint c
if c is OK wrt the domain store
apply filtering algorithm of c
else
return KO
until no value can be removed

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Thank you for your attention
 SomeOutline
references

Pierre Schaus, Constraint Programming: A tool inspired by gold seekers.

Grascomp, 2015. [Some slides are from this reference]

CSPLib: A problem library for constraints. csplib.org

A catalog of global constraints. h p://sofdem.github.io/gccat/

CP Solvers Catalog. h p://openjvm.jvmhost.net/CPSolvers/

Mini-CP: A lightweight Constraint Programming Solver h p://www.minicp.org/

OscaR is a Scala toolkit for solving Operations Research problems.

https://bitbucket.org/oscarlib/oscar/wiki/Home

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