Is the constraint based system Comet still being maintained and updated? For a project I was interested in this product but I encountered a few issues that make me think twice:
- http://dynadec.com/ seems not being updated for a year
- When googling the phone number I am pointed to an OB/GYN
- The forums http://forums.dynadec.com/ are very silent
- After a download no license is emailed
- Van Hentenryck is no longer mentioned in any official capacity (he is now somewhere Down Under)
- http://www.comet-online.org/ seems no longer available
May be it is just vacation time…
Hi Erwin,
ReplyDeleteI'd wondered something similar when I tried to renew my licence and it wasn't just emailed out. I use Comet for my most PhD work, so I got in touch with them and they still seem to be busy. If you email the CEO Jim Popeo (jpopeo at dynadec.com), he can sort out getting you a licence sent out. There's apparently another release in the pipeline, but I think they've mainly been using Comet for deployments. The forums are generally quiet until someone has a question, then the response time isn't too bad.
Ex-Dynadec employee Pierre Schauss has started an open-source project called OscaR (OR in Scala) that combines CBLS, CP, and MIP / LP solvers in a similar fashion to Comet. If you know Scala (or want to learn it) and want the freedom of an open project have a look at that.
@Alastair: Thank you for sharing these informations, good to know.
ReplyDeleteTry Local Solver instead (http://www.localsolver.com/).
ReplyDelete@Anonymous [http://www.localsolver.com/about.html] Shameless self-pitch! ;-) /PS: http://cp-is-fun.blogspot.de/2012/02/local-solver-is-out.html http://cp-is-fun.blogspot.de/2012/02/you-need-to-understand-bit-technology.html
ReplyDelete@fbahr I just discovered this post. The anonymous reply about LocalSolver do not come from a LocalSolver team member. We always speak about LocalSolver openly, by providing our identities.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, I encourage Erwin to have a look to LocalSolver http://www.localsolver.com if he feels that local search can perform well on this problem. Note that LocalSolver is not a CBLS solver like Comet or Oscar. LocalSolver is closer to MIP solvers even if relying on pure and direct local-search techniques.