=ADD=
=author=
Schreiner; Wolfgang + Ida; Tetsuo + Marin; Mircea
=title=
CFLP: a Mathematica Implementation of a Distributed Constraint Solving System
=number=
99-35
=month=
12
=year=
1999
=url=
ftp://ftp.risc.uni-linz.ac.at/pub/techreports/1999/99-35.ps.gz
=abstract=
The need for combining and making cooperate various constraint 
solvers is widely recognized. Such an integrated system would allow 
solving problems that can not be solved by a single solver.

CFLP (Constrained Functional Logic Programming language) is a 
distributed software system consisting of a functional logic 
interpreter running on one machine and a number of constraint solving 
engines running on other machines. The interpreter is based on a 
deterministic version of a lazy narrowing calculus which was extended 
in two main directions: (a) the possibility to specify explicit 
OR-parallelism, and (b) the possibility to specify constraints over 
various domains. The OR parallel features of the interpreter allow 
the decomposition of the solution space into different subspaces 
denoted by varous sets of constraints; the individual sets are solved 
by different constraint solving engines in parallel and joined 
together to form the total solution set. This allows to investigate 
problems with large solution spaces using the computational power 
available in large computer networks.

The system is written entirely in Mathematica and uses the MathLink 
protocol for inter-process communication. The current implementation 
can solve problems expressible in functional logic and involving 
constraints such as linear, polynomial and differential equations.
=keywords=
functional programming, logic programming, constraint solving, distributed systems, Mathematica.
=howpublished=
IMS '99, Third International Mathematica Symposium, Hagenberg, Austria, August 23-25, 1999.
=location=
2
=owner=
2
=source=
3
=reftype=
14