Arbitrary due date $d_j$ for every job

[acxz]

First off, I would like to mention that I really appreciate this project! Having an interactive formulation of optimal job scheduling problems has been a boon in understanding them.

I recently started working on a scheduling problem and after a couple of days entering the scheduling niche I have stumbled my way through figuring that the problem I am trying to solve can be described as a single-stage, single machine problem with job characteristics of arbitrary processing times, arbitrary release times, and arbitrary due dates. (A simple enough problem, based on what I now know about scheduling...).

However, when I stumbled on this project, I realized that there is no way for me to specify arbitrary due dates, like there is for me to do so for arbitrary release times (with the r_i button) and for arbitrary processing times (with the ∅ button). Can some notation be added for arbitrary due dates, perhaps with a d_i button and associated tooltip?

[xtof-durr]

Dear acxz,

the scheduling notation has been introduced more than 50 years ago, and is well established. I cannot change the notation as an individual, only the community can do it.
When I started to work in scheduling, I was surprised, as you are right now, that the due dates d_j, are not explicitly specified in the notation. If you have an objective function depending on them, such as sum U_j for example, the due dates are part of the problem instance.

Best wishes,
Christoph Dürr

[acxz]

Hello Christoph,

I understand that we should abide by the established notation and I'm also glad I wasn't the only so perplexed at this. After thinking about this more, I now have the following thoughts.

The established notation implicitly assumes an arbitrary d_j for each job. The ∅ in the notation, captures both no due dates as well as arbitrary due dates. However, Scheduling Zoo mentions to use the ∅ button only for no due dates. Thus, I propose that the tooltip for the ∅ button for due date be changed from no due dates to arbitrary or no due dates. Or something similar, maybe you would have better language for this.
If you would like, I can make a PR regarding this proposal.

I don't believe the gap is in the established notation, but rather in scheduling zoo, which does not give the user the ability to specify the correct notation for arbitrary due dates, even when the established notation mentions that arbitrary due dates are implicitly assumed, i.e. ∅.

Thank you,
Akash Patel