To me, I'm sorry to say, no. From experience, I've become a believer in "Amateurs talk about strategy, professionals talk about logistics". I'd suggest sticking

To me, I'm sorry to say, no. From experience, I've become a believer in "Amateurs talk about strategy, professionals talk about logistics". I'd suggest sticking to Python, a clean and pleasant language that 'fits my brain', to solve the problems you do have, until you bump into something that needs more. If/when what you can get for Python (from constraint solvers to whatever) proves insufficient. Also, lookup "Beware of the Turing tar-pit". And see what Peter Norvig ( http://norvig.com http://norvig.com ) has to say. On the other hand, you may consider rule systems (see, e.g. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1363680 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1363680 ); but consider also how you'll debug and maintain them.