Codes: Modified parameter-setting-free harmony search (PSFHS) algorithm for optimizing the design of reinforced concrete beams

This code is part of the "Modified parameter-setting-free harmony search (PSFHS) algorithm for optimizing the design of reinforced concrete beams, DOI: 10.1007/s00158-019-02252-4" paper.  See "Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization" journal - Springer Nature. Link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00158-019-02252-4

C++14, Python 3.7 and Matlab codes for the modified PSFHS algorithm. Those files are placed to reproduce the results, replication of results, of the benchmark function presented in the research paper (Appendix B). The files presented here are not perfect in the programmatic sense. The authors focused on the readability of the files more than the efficiency of the presented codes. The complete source code, reinforced concrete beams optimization model, is not provided in this context; they could be subjected to commercial copyrights in the near future. For any further information about the presented work please contact the first author, Email: mahmoud.shaqfa@epfl.ch.

Notes about the usage of the codes:

1- For C++ files the users should have installed CMake (3.10) on their devices; IDE such as CLion, Code::Blocks, Visual Studio ..etc should work if the linkers established correctly. For Linux users, a shell file,

~$ ./compile.sh

has been prepared to compile all the files automatically in a "build" folder that will be created automatically as well.

2- With regards to the Python code, users should use IPython3, Python3 or any IDE that supports Python3.7 such as Spyder3, Visual Studio ..etc to execute the file. Please pay attention to the imported libraries at the file's header and check if you already have them or not; if not use pip3 to install the needed libraries.

3- Regarding the Matlab file, it should run straight with Matlab or Octave. However, Octave is considerably slower in execution and you could face some problems with exporting the resulted figures.

The last version of this repository is a mature and well-benchmarked version of this project and shall be cited accordingly.