Paper 1: A New Application Programming Interface and a Fortran-like Modeling Language for Evaluating Functions and Specifying Optimization Problems at Runtime
Abstract: A new application programming interface for evaluating functions and specifying optimization problems at runtime has been developed. The new interface, named FEFAR, uses a simple language named LEFAR. Compared with other modeling languages such as AMPL or OSil, LEFAR is Fortran-like hence easy to learn and use, in particular for Fortran programmers. FEFAR itself is a Fortran subroutine hence easy to be linked to user’s main programs in Fortran language. With FEFAR a developer of optimization solver can provide pre-compiled, self-executable and directly usable software products. FEFAR and LEFAR are already used in some optimization solvers and should be a useful addition to the toolbox of programmers who develop solvers of optimization problems of any type including constrained/unconstrained, linear/nonlinear, smooth/nonsmooth optimization.
Keywords: programming language; Fortran computing language; Fortran subroutine; Application programming interface; Runtime function evaluation; Mathematical programming; Optimization problem; Optimization modeling language.