ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the general issues for the optimization problem solving from knowledge acquisition, data gathering, problem formulation or modeling, the development of problem solving, and simulation or offline tests to execution. With the revolutionary advances in science and technology optimization has been playing a more and more important role in solving a variety of real-world systems for modeling, optimization, and decision problems. The major functions of optimization are to provide one or multiple solutions that are able to optimize the desired objectives subject to the given constraints in the relevant search space. With the rapid development in science and technology, the optimization community faces serious challenges mainly in two ways: the computational complexity in real-world optimization problems and how to apply the information technology and its development environments, such as clouds, big data, and internet of things in solving complex optimization problems.
