[sampo]

> so I ended up having to write a simulated annealing algo

I think there are much better algorithms in metaheuristic search than just simulated annealing.

[chime]

Certainly but I didn't and still don't have the resources to write solving algo on top of the business logic that goes into the algo. I would much rather user my 20+ manufacturing ERP experience to setup the problem specific to our use-case than read research papers and implement generic CS algos.

[sampo]

> don't have the resources to write solving algo on top of the business logic that goes into the algo

You already did that once, for your simulated annealing code.

[bigbillheck]

Doesn't have to be the best, just has to be good enough.

[nuclearnice3]

would you be able to offer some examples and some discussion of how to choose?

[sampo]

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4419-1665-5

[zvr]

> Handbook of Metaheuristics

There is a third edition, 9 years later: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-91086-4

[nuclearnice1]

Great coverage — simulated annealing, genetic algorithms, ant colony optimization.

[tornadofart]

Genetic algorithms are known to produce quasi-optimal results in a short time, if set up accordingly. They can be also applied to problems where constraints are very complex to explicitly formulate. Designing one is no picnic, though, and always problem-specific.

[nuclearnice1]

Interesting.

What do you mean by quasi optimal?

Genetic algorithms product quasi optimal results but simulated annealing will not?

[tornadofart]

Quasi-optimal means you can't prove that the algorithm will always find the optimal solution, though for all practical purposes, the algorithm will find it for over 99% of the time.

[shaklee3]

cplex comes with a great heuristic now (odh), and gurobi too.