Constraint satisfaction is a simple but powerful tool. Constraints identify the impossible and reduce the realm of possibilities to effectively focus on the possible, allowing for a natural declarative formulation of what must be satisfied, without expressing how.  Meer

Graphical models (e.g., Bayesian and constraint networks, influence diagrams, and Markov decision processes) have become a central paradigm for knowledge representation and reasoning in both artificial intelligence and computer science in general.  Meer

As computer science enters the new millennium, methods and languages for reasoning with constraints have come to play an important role, with both t- oretical advances and practical applications.  Meer