<s>
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
is	O
a	O
software	O
environment	O
for	O
heuristic	B-Algorithm
and	O
evolutionary	B-Algorithm
algorithms	I-Algorithm
,	O
developed	O
by	O
members	O
of	O
the	O
Heuristic	B-Algorithm
and	O
Evolutionary	B-Algorithm
Algorithm	I-Algorithm
Laboratory	O
(	O
HEAL	O
)	O
at	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Applied	O
Sciences	O
Upper	O
Austria	O
,	O
in	O
Hagenberg	O
im	O
Mühlkreis	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
has	O
a	O
strong	O
focus	O
on	O
providing	O
a	O
graphical	O
user	O
interface	O
so	O
that	O
users	O
are	O
not	O
required	O
to	O
have	O
comprehensive	O
programming	O
skills	O
to	O
adjust	O
and	O
extend	O
the	O
algorithms	O
for	O
a	O
particular	O
problem	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
algorithms	O
are	O
represented	O
as	O
operator	O
graphs	O
and	O
changing	O
or	O
rearranging	O
operators	O
can	O
be	O
done	O
by	O
drag-and-drop	O
without	O
actually	O
writing	O
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Developers	O
can	O
still	O
extend	O
the	O
functionality	O
on	O
code	O
level	O
and	O
can	O
use	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
's	O
plug-in	O
mechanism	O
that	O
allows	O
them	O
to	O
integrate	O
custom	O
algorithms	O
,	O
solution	O
representations	O
or	O
optimization	O
problems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Development	O
on	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
was	O
started	O
in	O
2002	O
by	O
Stefan	O
Wagner	O
and	O
Michael	O
Affenzeller	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
main	O
motivation	O
for	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
was	O
to	O
build	O
a	O
paradigm-independent	O
,	O
flexible	O
,	O
extensible	O
,	O
and	O
comfortable	O
environment	O
for	O
heuristic	B-Algorithm
optimization	O
on	O
top	O
of	O
a	O
state-of-the-art	O
programming	O
environment	O
and	O
by	O
using	O
modern	O
programming	O
concepts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
the	O
Microsoft	B-Application
.NET	I-Application
framework	I-Application
seemed	O
to	O
fulfill	O
this	O
requirements	O
it	O
was	O
chosen	O
as	O
the	O
development	O
environment	O
and	O
C#	B-Application
as	O
programming	O
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
officially	O
available	O
version	O
of	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
was	O
1.0	O
released	O
in	O
2004	O
with	O
an	O
improved	O
version	O
1.1	O
released	O
in	O
2005	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Development	O
on	O
the	O
next	O
version	O
of	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
started	O
in	O
the	O
same	O
year	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Among	O
many	O
things	O
it	O
was	O
decided	O
that	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
2.0	O
should	O
provide	O
an	O
entirely	O
new	O
user	O
experience	O
and	O
lift	O
the	O
burden	O
of	O
programming	O
off	O
of	O
the	O
user	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Therefore	O
,	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
2.0	O
was	O
the	O
first	O
version	O
featuring	O
graphical	O
tools	O
for	O
creating	O
algorithms	O
,	O
however	O
due	O
to	O
the	O
complexity	O
of	O
the	O
user	O
interface	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
2.0	O
was	O
never	O
released	O
to	O
the	O
public	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
summer	O
of	O
2007	O
it	O
was	O
decided	O
that	O
a	O
new	O
iteration	O
of	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
was	O
needed	O
which	O
should	O
combine	O
the	O
usability	O
of	O
version	O
1.1	O
with	O
the	O
algorithm	O
modeling	O
concepts	O
of	O
version	O
2.0	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
3.0	O
was	O
released	O
internally	O
in	O
the	O
beginning	O
of	O
2008	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
next	O
2	O
years	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
was	O
gradually	O
improved	O
which	O
led	O
to	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
version	O
3.3	O
in	O
summer	O
2010	O
as	O
open	B-Application
source	I-Application
software	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
of	O
the	O
features	O
that	O
distinguishes	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
from	O
many	O
other	O
metaheuristic	B-Algorithm
software	O
frameworks	O
is	O
the	O
algorithm	O
designer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
allows	O
to	O
model	O
algorithms	O
in	O
a	O
graphical	O
way	O
without	O
having	O
to	O
write	O
any	O
source	O
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Algorithms	O
in	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
are	O
a	O
composition	O
of	O
operators	O
which	O
are	O
chained	O
together	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
sequence	O
of	O
operators	O
is	O
called	O
the	O
operator	O
graph	O
and	O
can	O
be	O
viewed	O
and	O
edited	O
for	O
any	O
algorithm	O
in	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
also	O
offers	O
a	O
so	O
called	O
Programmable	O
Operator	O
that	O
can	O
include	O
source	O
code	O
which	O
can	O
be	O
written	O
from	O
within	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
's	O
Experiment	O
Designer	O
different	O
algorithms	O
with	O
different	O
parameter	O
settings	O
and	O
problems	O
can	O
be	O
composed	O
,	O
executed	O
and	O
analyzed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
offerers	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
tools	O
for	O
graphically	O
analyzing	O
the	O
results	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Every	O
functionality	O
in	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
is	O
available	O
as	O
a	O
plugin	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Developers	O
can	O
create	O
and	O
reuse	O
plugins	O
to	O
integrate	O
new	O
features	O
and	O
extend	O
the	O
functionality	O
of	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
Genetic	B-Algorithm
programming	I-Algorithm
models	O
can	O
be	O
simplified	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
genetic	B-Algorithm
programming	I-Algorithm
trees	O
can	O
be	O
exported	O
to	O
MATLAB	B-Language
,	O
LaTeX	O
,	O
Excel	O
or	O
other	O
formats	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
can	O
be	O
coupled	O
with	O
external	O
applications	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
simulation	O
models	O
,	O
to	O
optimize	O
their	O
parameters	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Support	O
for	O
distributed	O
computing	O
(	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
Hive	O
)	O
based	O
on	O
a	O
master-slave	B-Operating_System
model	I-Operating_System
similar	O
to	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
following	O
list	O
gives	O
an	O
overview	O
of	O
the	O
algorithms	O
supported	O
by	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
:	O
</s>
<s>
User-Defined	O
Algorithm	O
:	O
Allows	O
to	O
model	O
algorithms	O
within	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
's	O
graphical	O
modeling	O
tools	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
following	O
list	O
gives	O
an	O
overview	O
of	O
the	O
problems	O
supported	O
by	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
:	O
</s>
<s>
User-defined	O
Problem	O
:	O
A	O
problem	O
which	O
can	O
be	O
defined	O
with	O
HeuristicLab	B-Algorithm
's	O
graphical	O
modelling	O
tools	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MATLAB	B-Language
and	O
Scilab	B-Application
.	O
</s>
