[Scip] New Releases of SCIP, SoPlex, and Zimpl

[Timo Berthold]

New Releases of SCIP, SoPlex, and Zimpl
---------------------------------------

The Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB) is proud to present Version 1.0 of SCIP.

Additionally, there are new versions of SoPlex (1.3.2) and Zimpl
(2.07). All three are combined into the new ZIB Optimization Suite
(Version 1.0).

The web sites (see below) have been relaunched and the download
process has been simplified.


1. SCIP (Solving Constraint Integer Programs) - Version 1.0

   Web site: http://scip.zib.de

   SCIP is a framework for Constraint Integer Programming oriented
   towards the needs of Mathematical Programming experts who want to
   have total control of the solution process and access detailed
   information down to the guts of the solver.  It integrates
   techniques from Mixed Integer Programming, Constraint Programming
   and SAT Solving. SCIP can also be used as pure MIP solver or as
   framework for branch-cut-and-price. It is developed together with
   TU Darmstadt and Siemens.

   SCIP is currently the fastest non-commercial MIP solver.

   Version 1.0 features the following improvements:

   - Several bug fixes
   - Documentation (FAQ, HowTos, Doxygen-Docs)
   - 1-Opt improvement heuristic
   - Several performance improvements
   - Improved node selection
   - Flow cover cuts
   - Improvement of Gomory cuts
   - Predefined parameter settings
   - Improved time limit checks
   - Conflict analysis enabled in default settings

2. SoPlex (Sequential object-oriented simplex) - Version 1.3.2

   Web site: http://soplex.zib.de

   SoPlex is an implementation of the simplex algorithm for solving
   linear programs. Version 1.3.2 is a bugfix release. In particular,
   a bug that prevented the usage of Gomory cuts in SCIP has been fixed.

3. Zimpl - Version 2.07

   Web site: http://zimpl.zib.de

   Zimpl is a little language to translate the mathematical model of a
   problem into a linear or (mixed-) integer mathematical program
   expressed in .lp or .mps file format which can be read and
   (hopefully) solved by a LP or MIP solver.

   SCIP can also directly read Zimpl files.

   Version 2.07 has the following new features:

   - New functions and operators: prod, length, substr, match
   - C Preprocessor can be used on Zimpl files
   - Several smaller improvements
   - Regular expression support for data files
   - New variable type "implicit integer/binary" (with SCIP)
   - Some bug fixes

4. ZIB Optimization Suite - Version 1.0

   Web site: http://zibopt.zib.de

   The three tools SCIP, SoPlex, and Zimpl are now combined into a
   single software suite. You only need to download a single file and
   build them all at once. A typical run looks as follows:

   - You create a mixed integer programming model with Zimpl.
   - You start SCIP and directly load the Zimpl file.
   - The model is solved, using SoPlex as an intermediate LP-solver.


SCIP and SoPlex are distributed under the ZIB Academic License. Zimpl
is distributed under the GNU GPL. For details see
http://zibopt.zib.de/ZIBLicence.shtml.

Since all three tools are available in source code and free for
academic use, we think that they are ideal for academic research
purposes and for teaching integer programming.

We are glad for any comments and error reports (or even bug fixes)
that you send us.


The ZIB MIP-Team,

Tobias Achterberg
Timo Berthold
Thorsten Koch
Marc Pfetsch
Kati Wolter


Zuse Institute Berlin
Takustr. 7
14195 Berlin
Germany
http://www.zib.de