# Aspartame: Solving Constraint Satisfaction Problems with Answer Set Programming

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1312.6113 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1312.6113/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 20 Dec 2013.

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Constraint Answer Set Programming: Integrational and Translational (or SMT-based) Approaches](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.08252/) (2021)
- [Compiling Metric Temporal Answer Set Programming](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.08150/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Encoding finite linear CSPs as Boolean formulas and solving them by using modern SAT solvers has proven to be highly effective, as exemplified by the award-winning sugar system. We here develop an alternative approach based on ASP. This allows us to use first-order encodings providing us with a high degree of flexibility for easy experimentation with different implementations. The resulting system aspartame re-uses parts of sugar for parsing and normalizing CSPs. The obtained set of facts is then combined with an ASP encoding that can be grounded and solved by off-the-shelf ASP systems. We establish the competitiveness of our approach by empirically contrasting aspartame and sugar.