Constraint programming (CP) is a programming paradigm in which a set of constraints that a solution must meet are specified, rather than the set of steps to obtain such a solution. In that sense, constraint programming is related to integer programming, although the language of CP is much richer and constantly evolving.

There are several aspects in which the solution methods used in CP and IP are similar, and some notable ones in which they differ, which gives them complementary strengths. This has recently lead to research efforts to identify the common parts and to exploit the combined strengths of the two solution methods. But more on this some other time... Take this class and learn all about CP and IP and much more!