Using Elixir and BEAM for Constraint Programming

In his talk at ElixirConf EU 2024, Boris Okner introduces the concept of constraint programming and showcases its applications in solving combinatorial problems. He explains the principles and benefits of using constraint programming, including its roots in Prolog and connections to AI research. Okner provides detailed examples, such as the subset sum problem, traveling salesman problem, reindeer ordering, N-queens problem, and Sudoku, demonstrating how these can be modeled using constraints and solved by a solver without traditional programming. He also delves into the technical mechanisms of constraint solvers, highlighting their filtering and branching processes and justifying why the BEAM platform is well-suited for this task. Although the FixPoint library for Elixir is still in active development, it shows promise and Okner invites collaboration for its improvement.