Modifying the Objective Function

The DAO objective function, written in C, requires a programmer and recompilation to modify it, unlike the HMS rules. However, we provide an understandable way for Housing to adjust the grading function: Seniority weights, constraint coefficients, and other configurable parameters. Housing also designates the finality of a student's assignment, and room attributes (e.g. gender, smoking and blocked), all of which effect the quality of assignments.

Changing the Objective Function by adding or modifying constraints is an important topic with many subtleties. Constraints must:

• reflect the real-world;
• apply to the entire system equally;
• report errors on an individual basis;
• support gradations where possible, rather than all-or-none, to help produce a smoother landscape;
• be linear time since they are checked in the inner most loop.

These design choices are illustrated in the following examples:

download thesis