[Coin-announce] Coopr 2.5 Release (2.5.3890)

[Hart, William E]

We are pleased to announce the release of Coopr 2.5 (2.5.3890). Coopr is a collection of Python software packages that supports a diverse set of optimization capabilities for formulating and analyzing optimization models.

The following are highlights of this release:

- Solvers
    * MIP solver interface updates to use appropriate objective names
    * Added support for suffixes in GUROBI solver interface
    * Improved diagnostic analysis of PH solver for the extensive form

- Usability enhancements
    * Improved robustness of coopr_install
    * Fixed Coopr installation problem when using easy_install
    * Added a script to launch the CooprAge GUI.
    * LP files now are written with the true objective name
    * Rework of pyomo command line to create a concise output
    * Many efficiency improvements during model generation!
    * Many improvements to diagnostic output and error handling
    * Expressions like "model.p > 1" can now be used within generation rules

- Modeling
    * Added support for generalized disjunctive programs (in coopr.gdp)
    * Constraints can now be specified in "compound" form:  lb <= expr <= ub
    * Significant robustness enhancements for model expressions
    * Improved error handling for constraint generation

- Other
    * Python 2.5 is deprecated due to performance issues
    * Python versions 2.6 and 2.7 are supported
    * New MS Windows installer is now available


See https://software.sandia.gov/trac/coopr/wiki/GettingStarted for instructions for getting started with Coopr.  Installers are available for MS Windows and Unix operating systems to simplify the installation of Coopr packages along with the third-party Python packages that they depend on.  These installers can also automatically install extension packages from Coin Bazaar.

Enjoy!

Coopr Developer Team
coopr-developers at googlecode.com
https://software.sandia.gov/trac/coopr/wiki/Documentation/Developers


-----------
About Coopr
-----------

Coopr is a collection of Python software packages that supports a diverse set of optimization capabilities for formulating and analyzing optimization models.

A key driver for Coopr development is Pyomo, an open source tool for modeling optimization applications in Python. Pyomo can be used to define symbolic problems, create concrete problem instances, and solve these instances with standard solvers. Thus, Pyomo provides a capability that is commonly associated with algebraic modeling languages like AMPL and GAMS.

Coopr has also proven an effective framework for developing high-level optimization and analysis tools. For example, the PySP package provides generic solvers for stochastic programming.  PySP leverages the fact that Pyomo's modeling objects are embedded within a full-featured high-level programming language, which allows for transparent parallelization of subproblems using Python parallel communication libraries.

Coopr development is hosted by Sandia National Laboratories and COIN-OR:

 * https://projects.coin-or.org/Coopr
 * https://software.sandia.gov/coopr 

See http://groups.google.com/group/coopr-forum/ for online discussions of Coopr.