Warren Hare – författare

The second edition of Derivative-Free and Blackbox Optimization offers a comprehensive introduction to the field of optimization when derivatives are unavailable, unreliable, or impractical. Whether you’re a student, instructor, or self-learner, this book is designed to guide you through both the foundations and advanced techniques of derivative-free and blackbox optimization. This new edition features significantly expanded exercises, updated and intuitive notation, over 30 new figures, and a wide range of pedagogical enhancements aimed at making complex concepts accessible and engaging. The book is structured into five parts. Part 1 established foundational principles, including an expanded chapter on proper benchmarking. Parts 2, 3, and 4, take an in-depth look at heuristics, direct search, and model based approaches (respectively). Part 5 extends these approaches to specialised settings. Finally, a new appendix contributed by Sébastien Le Digabel, details several real-world applications of blackbox optimization, and links to software for each application. Whether used in the classroom or for independent exploration, this book is a powerful resource for understanding and applying optimization methods – no gradients required.

This book is designed as a textbook, suitable for self-learning or for teaching an upper-year university course on derivative-free and blackbox optimization. The book is split into 5 parts and is designed to be modular; any individual part depends only on the material in Part I.  Part I of the book discusses what is meant by Derivative-Free and Blackbox Optimization, provides background material, and early basics while Part II focuses on heuristic methods (Genetic Algorithms and Nelder-Mead).  Part III presents direct search methods (Generalized Pattern Search and Mesh Adaptive Direct Search) and Part IV focuses on model-based methods (Simplex Gradient and Trust Region).  Part V discusses dealing with constraints, using surrogates, and bi-objective optimization. End of chapter exercises are included throughout as well as 15 end of chapter projects and over 40 figures.  Benchmarking techniques are also presented in the appendix.