Hence my statement about education. All tools must be used correctly in their proper domain, that is true. Don’t try to drive screws with a hammer. But I'm curi

Hence my statement about education. All tools must be used correctly in their proper domain, that is true. Don’t try to drive screws with a hammer. But I'm curious what problems you tried them on and found them wanting and what your alternative was? I actually find that custom solutions work better for simple problems and that solvers do a lot better when the problem complexity grows. You’re better off solving the Zebra puzzle and its ilk with brute force code, not a solver, for instance.