Dear users,

We make available JaCoP 3.0 RC1, which has been used in Minizinc
Challenge 2010. We are still working on the newest functionality (1)
as well as cleaning API to reduce the need of further changes in the
future.  We look for your feedback so we can make the final release
3.0 as soon as possible. Here is the list of most important changes
since version 2.4.

1) The introduction of Network Flow constraint, which allows efficient
  modeling of problems with network flow structure. The constraint
  allows to specify minimum cost flow problem in terms of finite
  domain variables.  It uses network simplex algorithm as an
  propagator for network-like structure. It is a very expressive
  constraint where arc flow and arc unit costs can be specified by
  variables.

2) The introduction of set package forced changes in the design of
  core interfaces. There are IntVar and SetVar classes which inherit
  from Var class. This change allowed to refactor and improve set package
  so it is designed in cleaner and more efficient manner.

3) The introduction of special domain representation SmallDenseDomain,
  which uses bits within a long primitive type to encode small
  domains of range not larger than 64.

4) The introduction of Soft-alldifferent as well as Soft-GCC global
  constraints. The soft-alldifferent constraint implements Variable
  and Decomposition based violation metrics. The soft-gcc constraint
  implements value based violation metric. Both are decomposed constraints
  based on network flow constraint.

5) Examples have been updated by moving multiple solving functionality
  from main function to test function, so user can easily see what is
  the best model just by looking at main function. BIBD example has
  been added.  Examples with Set variables have been updated to
  reflect the changes.

6) A number of bug fixes and changes in flatzinc interface to better
  comply with minizinc 1.1. We have also added into minizinc
  predicates networkflow that uses newly introduced JaCoP Network
  Flow constraint.

7) A number of minor API changes to improve intuitiveness of use
  (e.g. order of arguments in constructors).

8) The JaCoP guide has been updated to reflect the changes and additions
  to the newest version.

best regards,

Core Developer Team