Solve a nurse or employee scheduling problem where shifts must be assigned fairly while respecting availability constraints.
Optimize delivery vehicle routes across dozens of locations to minimize total driving distance.
Solve a bin-packing problem to fit products into the fewest possible shipping containers.
Find the shortest path through a large logistics network using the built-in graph algorithms.
| google/or-tools | google-deepmind/mujoco | facebook/watchman | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stars | 13,476 | 13,464 | 13,578 |
| Language | C++ | C++ | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | moderate | moderate | moderate |
| Complexity | 4/5 | 4/5 | 3/5 |
| Audience | developer | researcher | developer |
Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.
Requires understanding the problem domain, the math can be complex even though the API is straightforward.
OR-Tools is a free, open-source toolkit from Google for solving a specific class of math problems called combinatorial optimization. These are problems where you need to find the best possible arrangement or assignment from a large number of possibilities, such as scheduling shifts for a workforce, routing delivery vehicles across a city, or packing items into containers as efficiently as possible. The toolkit includes several specialized solvers, each designed for a different type of problem. There are constraint programming solvers that figure out what combinations satisfy a set of rules, linear programming solvers that optimize a goal while respecting numerical limits, and algorithms specifically built for classic problems like the Traveling Salesman Problem (finding the shortest route that visits many locations) and bin packing (fitting items into the fewest possible containers). It also covers graph problems like finding the shortest path between two points in a network. The core code is written in C++, which makes it fast, but the library can be used from Python, Java, and C# as well. This means developers on most popular platforms can plug it into their projects without rewriting anything. Installation packages are available through standard channels for each language. The project is well documented, with an official developer guide, worked examples in multiple languages, and Jupyter notebook tutorials. The examples directory covers C++, Java, Python, and .NET, so there are starting points for most teams regardless of their preferred language. This is a mature, production-grade tool used inside Google and published for general use under the Apache 2.0 open-source license.
OR-Tools is Google's free open-source toolkit for solving hard scheduling, routing, and assignment problems by finding the best possible arrangement from millions of options. Available in Python, Java, C#, and C++.
Mainly C++. The stack also includes C++, Python, Java.
Apache 2.0: use freely for any purpose, including commercial products, as long as you include the license and copyright notice.
Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.
Mainly developer.
This repo across BitVibe Labs
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