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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Advanced Modeling for Discrete Optimization by The University of Melbourne

4.9
stars
134 ratings

About the Course

Optimization is a common form of decision making, and is ubiquitous in our society. Its applications range from solving Sudoku puzzles to arranging seating in a wedding banquet. The same technology can schedule planes and their crews, coordinate the production of steel, and organize the transportation of iron ore from the mines to the ports. Good decisions in manpower and material resources management also allow corporations to improve profit by millions of dollars. Similar problems also underpin much of our daily lives and are part of determining daily delivery routes for packages, making school timetables, and delivering power to our homes. Despite their fundamental importance, all of these problems are a nightmare to solve using traditional undergraduate computer science methods. This course is intended for students who have completed Basic Modelling for Discrete Optimization. In this course you will learn much more about solving challenging discrete optimization problems by stating the problem in a state-of-the-art high level modeling language, and letting library constraint solving software do the rest. This course will focus on debugging and improving models, encapsulating parts of models in predicates, and tackling advanced scheduling and packing problems. As you master this advanced technology, you will be able to tackle problems that were inconceivable to solve previously. Watch the course promotional video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc3cBvtrem0&t=8s...

Top reviews

KG

Nov 7, 2020

Excellent course! I learned a lot. Although the assignments were sometimes hard to fathom, and its online nature mean getting hints was difficult, there's enough there to help get through.

JM

Aug 27, 2020

Great course! Engaging content and not-so-easy assignments to make you understand the subject better. Thanks Prof. Stuckey and Prof. Lee for making this course available on Coursera!

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1 - 25 of 26 Reviews for Advanced Modeling for Discrete Optimization

By Alex D

Sep 25, 2018

Great course for those who would like to divert from procedural and object-oriented programming and challenge themselves. The course promotes developing holistic thinking in discrete optimization, as solving most assignments to full grade usually requires developing some really good “global constraints” (these beasts have already appeared in the “Basic Modeling for Discrete Optimization” course). Although the fable based learning approach may frustrate some academic snobs, I guess it is generally fun and does not hinder the essence of the course. Highly recommended.

By Carlos V M

May 13, 2017

Advanced Modeling for Discrete Optimization is an Excellent course, very challenging and satisfying at the same time; I will highly recommend this course to anyone that is serious about Discrete Optimization.

I will also to extend my thanks to Prof. Jimmy Ho-Man Lee and Prof. Peter James Stuckey for putting together this astounding course and the staff that work in this exceptional narrative to explain the concepts.

Thanks.

By David T

Sep 1, 2021

I learned a lot though one has to put in the work. Bring your knowledge of (Classical) First-Order Logic. You will need patience and time to perform quite a bit of trial-and-error programming in an environment that is still developing and needs further refinment. In 10 years, will there be an Eclipse-style IDE for solvers that could be profitably used even in high school? Why not!

By Jan G

May 12, 2019

very good course to learn how to get the most (or even something) out of your solver.

my only tiny remark is that MiniZinc evolved a lot over the years (which is good), which sometimes makes it hard to look for a setting. e.g. restart is now a search annotation, can I still set it as a solver argument (from the command line)?

in any case, keep up the good work!

By Gabriel M D M A

Dec 13, 2022

Very interesting course! The concepts and strategies for dealing with discrete optimization problems are very clear. The assignments and workshops are very challenging (especially if you're new to MiniZinc). Finally, the fable used make the videos very engaging.

By Alexandre P

Sep 4, 2017

Amazing course! Great instructors and course materials of high quality. I enjoyed very much learning more about advanced modeling for discrete optimization. Will recommend this course and acquire more knowledge in this field!

By jerome

Nov 26, 2017

Lively and engaging course.

If you found "basic modeling" fun, then "advanced modeling" is just as fun, but be warned the assignments will require somewhat more time: about the time indicated, maybe more.

By Karl G

Nov 7, 2020

Excellent course! I learned a lot. Although the assignments were sometimes hard to fathom, and its online nature mean getting hints was difficult, there's enough there to help get through.

By Olivier B

Mar 15, 2017

Excellent course with very supportive staff and professors on the forum. On top of that aligning the assignments to "The Romance of Three Kingdoms" story makes it fun to follow along.

By Jaydeep M

Aug 28, 2020

Great course! Engaging content and not-so-easy assignments to make you understand the subject better. Thanks Prof. Stuckey and Prof. Lee for making this course available on Coursera!

By Philippe C

Feb 18, 2018

Great course! I particularly appreciated the assignment and the staging which lets you build the final solution in a progressive manner. Looking for course 3 now...

By Boris O

Nov 16, 2019

Thank you so much! This course wasn't easy, but the material and assignments are very well thought out. Kept me motivated all the way through.

By Yorgos

Feb 21, 2018

Great course! Good presentation and lectures, challenging assignments. Learned a lot

By de P M

Dec 13, 2023

Very informative and rich course so very well put together, so very enjoyable.

By Kamen P

Oct 3, 2017

very rewarding and challenging assignments, thank you for this great course!

By Adel F

Jan 31, 2021

Excellent course overall with difficult assignments.

Learned heaps thanks

By Myroslava M

Mar 3, 2021

Very useful course. Really enjoyed the study process. Love Minizinc!!!

By Geoff G

Jun 10, 2018

Fantastic course that really makes you think long and hard.

By Mathieu B

Jun 15, 2022

Great content and challenging assignments

By Lozkins A

Jan 12, 2018

Nice course for modelling skills upgrade.

By Siwei G

Mar 20, 2017

Looking forward to course 3!

By Tiago S

Aug 1, 2020

Exceptional!

By Vadim O

Feb 16, 2023

Excellent!

By Luis V

Jan 31, 2020

A real gem

By GUILLAUME P

Mar 2, 2020

very good course and a good complement to the first course. I personally regret that the assignment description are a bit fuzzy and hard to understand for a non native english (lot of words i don't know) and not knowing chinese history too. But still happy to have followed these 2 courses, many thanks to the teachers