Researchers in answer set programming and constraint programming have spent significant efforts in the development of hybrid languages and solving algorithms combining the strengths of these traditionally separate fields. These efforts resulted in a new research area: constraint answer set programming. Constraint answer set programming languages and systems proved to be successful at providing declarative, yet efficient solutions to problems involving hybrid reasoning tasks. One of the main contributions of this paper is the first comprehensive account of the constraint answer set language and solver EZCSP, a mainstream representative of this research area that has been used in various successful applications. We also develop an extension of the transition systems proposed by Nieuwenhuis et al. in 2006 to capture Boolean satisfiability solvers. We use this extension to describe the EZCSP algorithm and prove formal claims about it. The design and algorithmic details behind EZCSP clearly demonstrate that the development of the hybrid systems of this kind is challenging. Many questions arise when one faces various design choices in an attempt to maximize system's benefits. One of the key decisions that a developer of a hybrid solver makes is settling on a particular integration schema within its implementation. Thus, another important contribution of this paper is a thorough case study based on EZCSP, focused on the various integration schemas that it provides. Under consideration in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming (TPLP).

本研究提出了约束应答集编程 Constraint Answer Set Programming （CASP）新研究领域，开发相应的EZCSP语言及其解释器并对其进行了系统性的研究，其设计和算法细节清晰地证明了这种混合系统的发展具有挑战性。在此基础上，展开了基于EZCSP的案例研究，重点关注其提供的各种集成方式。

约束求解器EZCSP及其集成架构的重要性