Abstract

A constrained-object model is a collection of classes parameterized by constraints and connected through composition and inheritance relations. A class is classically a factory of objects, that correctly linked are able to smoothly capture the inherent structure of complex and large constraint-based problems. Constrained-object languages are mainly focused on the definition of object-oriented, elegant, concise and expressive models. However, little attention has been paid in defining primitives to specify the search strategy of the solving process. In this paper, we address this concern by introducing an extensible formalism to define search strategies involving multiple options. Our main goal is to allow the user to customize, improve, and analyze the search process of constrained-object models. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.