Preface

Contents

Heuristic search is among the most widely used techniques in AI. In its different varieties, tree- based search and local search, it provides the core engine for applications as diverse as planning, parsing, and protein folding. One of the most promising avenues for developing improved search techniques is to integrate learning components that can adaptively guide the search. Research in this field is of wide interest in the AI community, not only because of the variety of subcommunities directly involved (problem solving, learning, constraint programming, operations research) but also because of the wide range of applications areas in which search algorithms play an important role.