  We consider Golomb rulers and their construction. Common rulers feature marks
at every unit measure, distances can often be measured with numerous pairs of
marks. On Golomb rulers, for every distance there are at most two marks
measuring it. The construction of optimal---with respect to shortest length for
given number of marks or maximum number of marks for given length---is
nontrivial, various problems regarding this are NP-complete. We give a
simplified hardness proof for one of them. We use a hypergraph characterization
of rulers and Golomb rulers to illuminate structural properties. This gives
rise to a problem kernel in a fixed-parameter approach to a construction
problem. We also take a short look at the practical implications of these
considerations.
