COIN-OR and Open-Source Events
INFORMS Atlanta 2003 Meeting

Presentations, workshops, and user-group meetings on open source software at the Atlanta 2003 INFORMS meeting. To facilitate session hopping, all talks in a session are listed. The non-open-source talks in listed in grey.

The COIN-OR User Group Meeting will be Monday, October 20, 12:00 - 1:15pm, in the International Ballroom A, conviently located near a food court, so people will have time (30 mins) to buy their lunch and bring it to the meeting room. The meeting announcement will appear in the official program.

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Tutorial: Sunday October 19, 8:00 - 9:30


Title: Tutorial: COIN-OR: Software Tools for Implementing Custom Solvers
Lead: Ted Ralphs, Lehigh University, tkralphs@lehigh.edu
Co-Author: Laszlo Ladanyi, IBM Research, ladanyi@us.ibm.com
Matthew Saltzman, Clemson University, mjs@clemson.edu
Abstracts: Branch and cut and branch and price are proven, effective techniques for solving difficult, large-scale discrete optimization problems. Implementing these algorithms is difficult due to the complexity of dynamically generating variables and/or constraints. This tutorial is aimed towards practitioners and researchers in need of more powerful solution techniques than current commercial software can provide. We will describe how to use the suite of tools available in the COIN-OR software repository (www.coin-or.org) to build a state-of-the-art parallel branch, cut, and price solver.

Session: Sunday October 19, 13:30 - 15:00


Title: Open-Source Interfaces for Optimization
Chair: Robin Lougee-Heimer,IBM Research, robinlh@us.ibm.com
Abstracts
  • Title: Stochastic Modeling Interface for COIN

    • Lead: Alan King, IBM Research, kingaj@us.ibm.com
    Co-author: Leonardo Lopes, Northwestern University, leo@iems.nwu.edu
    Abstract: We discuss progress on architecting and implementing a modeling interface for stochastic programming in the COIN system.
  • Title: New Developments in the COIN-OR Open Solver Interface

    • Lead: Matthew Saltzman, Clemson University, mjs@clemson.edu
    Abstract: The COIN-OR Open Solver Interface (OSI) is a uniform API for accessing a variety of commercial and open-source callable solver libraries. This presentation describes new features in the latest version of the OSI.
  • Title: COIN-OR Open-Source Coding Contest

    • Lead: Robin Lougee-Heimer, IBM Research, robinlh@us.ibm.com
    Co-Author: John Forrest,IBM Research, jjforre@us.ibm.com
    Gabrielle Grun,Simon Fraser University, grun@cs.sfu.ca
    Alexander Martin,TU Darmstadt, martin@mathematik.tu-darmstadt.de
    Michael Trick,Carnegie Mellon University, trick@cmu.edu
    Yan Xu,Lehigh University, yax2@lehigh.edu
    Abstract: Winners of the COIN-OR Open-Source Coding Contest will present their work The contest was a joint effort of INFORMS, MPS, and COIN-OR. Winners were announced at ISMP 2003. Prizes were donated by IBM Research.

Session: Monday October 20, 10:00 - 11:30

Title: Open-Source Linear and Mixed-Integer Programming Tools
Chair: Robin Lougee-Heimer, IBM Research, robinlh@us.ibm.com
Abstracts
  • Title: Checking for Rank 2 Chvatal-Gomory Inequalities

    • Lead: Brady Hunsaker, University of Pittsburgh, hunsaker@engr.pitt.edu
    Co-author: Ellis Johnson, Georgia Institute of Technology, ellis.johnson@isye.gatech.edu
    Abstract: We present algorithms and corresponding implementations that check for rank 2 C-G inequalities and that optimize over all rank 1 C-G inequalities. We discuss computational issues and plan to make the software available online under an open-source license.    
  • Title: A Framework for Scalable Parallel Tree Search

    • Lead: Yan Xu, Lehigh University, yax2@lehigh.edu
    Co-author: Laszlo Ladanyi, IBM Research, ladanyi@us.ibm.com
    Ted Ralphs, Lehigh University, tkralphs@lehigh.edu
    Matthew Saltzman, Clemson University, mjs@clemson.edu
    Abstract: We discuss the Abstract Library for Parallel Search, a framework for implementing parallel search algorithms. ALPS is designed to facilitate scalable implementations of methods such as branch and cut in which large amounts of "knowledge," such as cuts, are generated and must be shared. ALPS provides a framework for defining new types of knowledge, along with methods for storing and sharing this knowledge efficiently. We present computationsl results using ALPS for solving large integer programs.  
  • Title: The COIN-OR Linear Program Solver (CLP)

    • Lead: John Forrest, IBM Research, jjforre@us.ibm.com
    Abstract: CLP is a high-quality, open-source, simplex-based solver. Source code is available at www.coin-or.org. CLP uses sparse techniques, and has been tested on problems sizes of up to 1.5 million constraints. This talk surveys the design of CLP, including the conscious trade-offs made between performance and extensibility by the OR community. Benchmark results will be presented.
 

Session: Monday October 20, 16:30 - 18:00

Title: User's Introduction to COIN-OR's OSI and CLP Open-Source Software
Chair: Robin Lougee-Heimer, IBM Research, robinlh@us.ibm.com
Abstracts
  • Title: Software Tutorial : A Gentle Introduction to COIN-OR's Open Solver Interface (OSI), Part 1

    • Lead: Brady Hunsaker, University of Pittsburgh, hunsaker@engr.pitt.edu
    Co-author: John Forrest, IBM Research, jjforre@us.ibm.com
    Robin Lougee-Heimer, IBM Research, robinlh@us.ibm.com
    Ted Ralphs, Lehigh University, tkralphs@lehigh.edu
    Matthew Saltzman, Clemson University, mjs@clemson.edu
    Abstract: The Open Solver Interface (OSI) is a standard interface to a variety of commercial and free LP solvers. The free open-source OSI library of C++ classes lets users change underlying LP solvers easily. This talk introduces the current OSI. The OSI source code is available at www.coin-or.org.    
  • Title: Software Tutorial: A Gentle Introduction to COIN-OR's Open Solver Interface (OSI), Part 2

    • Lead: Brady Hunsaker, University of Pittsburgh, hunsaker@engr.pitt.edu
    Co-author: John Forrest, IBM Research, jjforre@us.ibm.com
    Robin Lougee-Heimer, IBM Research, robinlh@us.ibm.com
    Ted Ralphs, Lehigh University, tkralphs@lehigh.edu
    Matthew Saltzman, Clemson University, mjs@clemson.edu
    Abstract: At the end of the 2-part introduction, attendees will have seen an overview of the OSI functionality, where the OSI code lives on the COIN-OR website, how to compile the code, how the OSI files are organized, how the class libraries are structured, and reviewed major components of the library.  
  • Title: Software Tutorial: A Simple Use of the COIN LP Solver for the Unitiated

    • Lead: John Forrest, IBM Research, jjforre@us.ibm.com
    Co-author: Brady Hunsaker, University of Pittsburgh, hunsaker@engr.pitt.edu
    Robin Lougee-Heimer, IBM Research, robinlh@us.ibm.com
    Ted Ralphs, Lehigh University, tkralphs@lehigh.edu
    Matthew Saltzman, Clemson University, mjs@clemson.edu
    Abstract: The COIN LP Solver is an free, open-source, linear program solver written by John Forrest. In this talk, we walk through two introductory examples written in C++ and answer your questions. The source code to the COIN LP Solver and the examples are available at www.coin-or.org.

COIN-OR Users Group Meeting: Monday October 20, 12:00 - 1:15

Coordinator: Robin Lougee-Heimer, IBM Research, robinlh@us.ibm.com
Location: International Ballroom A -- conviently located near a food court, so people will have time (30 mins) to buy lunch and bring it to the meeting room.
Agenda: Report on progress, hosting status, and Open Q & A time. If you would like to talk or propose a discussion item, just bring it up on the coin-discuss mailing list available at http://www.coin-or.org.

COIN-OR Incorporation Meeting: Sunday, October 19, 11:40 - 13:30

Coordinator: Matthew Saltzman, Clemson University, mjs@clemson.edu
Location: Meet at the conference registration desk at 11:40, from where we'll go to a tbd location.
Agenda: Working meeting for the establishment of the COIN-OR Foundation, a nonprofit incorporation to oversee COIN-OR. All interested parties welcome. Incorporation home page at http://www.math.clemson.edu/~mjs/coin-incorporated.html.