The legacy of the Zinc modelling language

Abstract The Zinc modelling language was developed as part of the G12 project, which aimed to generate a new approach to constraint programming. A key feature of Zinc was its solver-independence, deliberately designed to separate the modelling of a discrete optimisation problem from how it is solved. This viewpoint was critical for the later design and uptake of the modelling language MiniZinc, created as a potential standard for constraint programming modelling, by cutting features from the existing Zinc language. MiniZinc has subsequently gone on to grow to encompass most of the Zinc features that were cut, and is widely used.