<s>
Minion	B-Application
is	O
a	O
solver	O
for	O
constraint	B-Application
satisfaction	I-Application
problems	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unlike	O
constraint	B-Application
programming	I-Application
toolkits	O
,	O
which	O
expect	O
users	O
to	O
write	O
programs	O
in	O
a	O
traditional	O
programming	O
language	O
like	O
C++	B-Language
,	O
Java	B-Language
or	O
Prolog	B-Language
,	O
Minion	B-Application
takes	O
a	O
text	O
file	O
which	O
specifies	O
the	O
problem	O
,	O
and	O
solves	O
using	O
only	O
this	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
makes	O
using	O
Minion	B-Application
much	O
simpler	O
,	O
at	O
the	O
cost	O
of	O
much	O
less	O
customization	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
limitation	O
allows	O
Minion	B-Application
to	O
be	O
many	O
times	O
faster	O
than	O
competing	O
commercial	O
solvers	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
Minion	B-Application
was	O
found	O
to	O
be	O
faster	O
than	O
the	O
major	O
commercial	O
constraint	B-Application
solver	I-Application
,	O
CPLEX	B-Application
(	O
formerly	O
ILOG	B-Application
CPLEX	I-Application
then	O
IBM	O
ILOG	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
