[Coin-discuss] Contribution ?

[Matthew Saltzman]

Just a couple of minor points:

Laci Ladanyi wrote:

>Hi Bertrand,
>
>On Thu, 8 Mar 2001, Bertrand Le cun wrote:
>[...]
>> So when i discover COIN, i stoped, i do not want to reinvent the wheel.
>> But maybe could be more interesting that i contribute to the COIN
>> developpement ?
>
>It would be great!

Here, here!

>[...]
>> 3- Do you plan to add lp_solve or soplex solvers in OSI that are free
>> solvers ?

A fine point:  SoPlex is not free.  It is free (with source) to academics,
but commercial users must get it under a more restrictive license.  That 
certainly need not stand in the way of developing an interface.

>Adding lp_solve or soplex interfaces would be very good, we just lack the
>manpower to do it. If anyone is interested in contributing... :-) It should
>not be too hard.

I thought somebody (was it Tobi?) had looked at SoPlex (although 
maintaining one interface is definitely enough for a person).  From
what I've heard about lp_solve, it may require some extensions itself
before it can be added.

>[...]
>> 4- The final question : 
>>    Do you plan to add a language like AMPL on top of your library ?
>
>The idea came up, but I guess it's further in the future. I believe that when 
>COIN really takes off then eventually a modelling language of some sort might
>be added.

I think building the hooks to use AMPL itself should not be very hard.
MPL may also be possible.  Building an open-source modeling language is 
another issue entirely.

>> I really interesting to contribute to the development of COIN.
>> I precise that i really prefer to develop on Unix (Linux or Solaris) but not
>> really on windows. 
>
>Yes!!! (This was a strictly personal note.)

Here, here! 8^)

		Matthew Saltzman

Clemson University Math Sciences
mjs at clemson.edu
http://www.math.clemson.edu/~mjs