What is a modeling language?
There is more to linear programming (or integer programming) than optimal solutions and number-crunching. This can be appreciated by observing that modern LP software comes in two related but very different kinds of packages: • Algorithmic codes are devoted to finding optimal solutions to specific linear programs. A code takes as input a compact listing of the LP constraint coefficients (the A, b, c and related values in the standard form) and produces as output a similarly compact listing of optimal solution values and related information. • Modeling systems are designed to help people formulate LPs and analyze their solutions. An LP modeling system takes as input a description of a linear program in a form that people find reasonably natural and convenient, and allows the solution output to be viewed in similar terms; conversion to the forms required by algorithmic codes is done automatically. The collection of statement forms for the input is often called a modeling language. Most m
