Re: [boost] Proposal for a Differential Evolution C++ library

Subject: Re: [boost] Proposal for a Differential Evolution C++ library
From: Beman Dawes (bdawes_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-12-11 21:30:58

Hi Adrian,

> Would there be interest in a C++ Differential Evolution optimization (DE)
> library as part of boost?

Seems interesting, and you've clearly put in a lot of work, and the
documentation makes a good initial impressions. But see below...

> The library is functional but hasn't been made
> public yet.
>
> The full documentation is at http://www.amichel.com/de/doc/html but I'd
> suggest these pages for a first read
> http://www.amichel.com/de/doc/html/dd/d53/overview.html and
> http://www.amichel.com/de/doc/html/db/d4e/tutorial.html .

After skim reading the overview and the beginning of the tutorial, I
was left with several unanswered questions:

* What are some practical scientific or engineering problems that DE
is good for? I'm having trouble calibrating - is your library
primarily aimed at research and academic problems or is it an everyday
tool for use in a broad spectrum of organizations?

* Who is the library aimed at? Is the library most likely to be used
by optimization specialists who already know about DE or is it
something that can be used by a wide range of programmers?

Thanks,

--Beman