[Coin-discuss] accessing the Clp solver from Cbc/Clp

[Lou Hafer]

Kish,

> In terms of functionality, it would be quite nice if the difference between 
> the linear solver and CBC be more hidden, as I need to solve both linear and 
> MIP (and actually also QP and MIQP) problems using one solver. As things 
> stands now, I need to extract both the CBC and CLP model pointers to do 
> different things. More support for MIP in the OsiSolverInterface would be 
> useful.

	It's an interesting debate. You can probably get three opinions from any 
two people. A `one-size-fits-all' interface that provides adequate functionality 
to control such a range of solvers and extract all available information from 
the answer would be a bloated monster. From a developer standpoint, it would be 
a massive undertaking to develop such a beast. From a user standpoint, you would 
be paying (in overhead and code bloat) for functionality that would often go 
unused. From a software engineering point of view, a more modular, layered 
interface makes more sense. Easier to maintain, and a user can tap in at 
whatever layer they need. You only need to pay for the overhead of a layer if 
you need the functionality, and if you really feel the urge to tweak an 
underlying layer, well, pulling up the underlying interface is not an entirely 
unreasonable requirement.
	
	And if that doesn't provoke discussion I'm losing my touch :-).
	
							Lou