[Coin-discuss] Re: Open Source Modeling Language System

[Thorsten Koch]

>Brady Hunsaker wrote:
>The modeling language in GLPK, GNU MathProg, is really a subset of
>AMPL.  It appears that Zimpl may also be based on AMPL, but I'm not sure
>since I only briefly looked over Zimpl after seeing it mentioned on a
>recent post.  I point these out as examples where similar efforts have
>been made.  Of course, whether or not something is legal is not the only
>factor in whether a company will attempt to stop you from doing it.

I just wanted to note, that while Zimpl is surely inspired by AMPL is 
in no way compatible with it. 

The question is why would you want an open source MPL that is (totaly) 
compatible with an existing (commercial one). I mean the biggest
advantage of having the source is the ability to change it. 
But than it is no longer compatible.

>From my experience I can tell that writing the parser is the smallest
part of the work. To get it compatible you would need to implement all
the hundreds of features that have been creept into GAMS with time.
And even more problematic, many of them are things put in after the
initial design, so they might be difficult to reimplement "correctly".


Best regards,
Thorsten

-- 
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Benjamin Franklin, 1759
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Thorsten Koch   / Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum für Informationstechnik Berlin
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