- CUTEr
= A Constrained and Unconstrained Testing Environment, revisited =
CUTEr [2] is an [http://www.opensource.org open source] testing environment for optimization and
linear algebra solvers which provides a collection of test problems along with a set of tools intended to help developers design, compare and improve new and existing solvers.CUTEr is the successor of the original Constrained and Unconstrained Testing Environment (CUTE) of Bongartz, Conn, Gould and Toint [1] . It provides support for a larger number of platforms and operating systems and a more convenient optimization toolbox.
The test problems provided are written in Standard Input Format, or [http://www.numerical.rl.ac.uk/lancelot/sif/sifhtml.html SIF] . A decoder to convert from this format into well-defined subroutines and data files is available as a separate package. Once translated, these files may be manipulated to provide tools suitable for testing optimization packages. Ready-to-use interfaces to existing packages, such as
IPOPT , [http://www.sbsi-sol-optimize.com/asp/sol_product_minos.htm MINOS] , [http://www.sbsi-sol-optimize.com/asp/sol_product_snopt.htm SNOPT] , [http://neos.mcs.anl.gov/neos/solvers/nco:filter/AMPL.html filterSQP] , [http://www.ziena.com Knitro] , and more, are provided.More than one thousand problems are available in the collection, ranging from
linear programming , to convex and nonconvexquadratic programming , to linear and nonlinearleast squares , through to more general convex and nonconvex large-scale and sparse equality and inequality-constrainednonlinear programming problems. Over time, the CUTEr test set has become the "de facto" standard benchmark for research and production-level optimization solvers and is used and cited in numerous published research articles.The SIF is a superset of the original MPS format for
linear programming and of its extension QPS forquadratic programming . Therefore, access to problem collections such as the [http://www.netlib.org Netlib] linear programs and the [http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~im/ Maros and Meszaros] convex quadratic programs is possible. Moreover, the collection covers the Argonne test set [4] , the Hock and Schittkowski collection [3] , the Dembo network problems, the Gould QPs, and more.CUTEr is available on a variety of
UNIX platforms, includingLinux andMac OS X and is designed to be accessible and easily manageable on heterogeneous networks.External links
* The [http://cuter.rl.ac.uk/cuter-www official CUTEr website] .
* [http://cuter.rl.ac.uk/cuter-www/Doc/general/node55.html CUTEr license]References
[1] I. Bongartz, A.R. Conn, N. I. M. Gould and Ph. L. Toint, "CUTE: Constrained and Unconstrained Testing Environment", ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software, 21:1, pp. 123-160, 1995.
[2] N. I. M. Gould, D. Orban and Ph. L. Toint, "CUTEr (and SifDec): a Constrained and Unconstrained Testing Environment, revisited", ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software, 29:4, pp 373-394, 2003.
[3] W. Hock and K. Schittkowski, Test Examples for Nonlinear Programming Codes, Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems, Vol. 187, Springer 1981.
[4] J. J. Moré, B. S. Garbow and K. E. Hillström, "Testing Unconstrained Optimization Software", ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software, 7:1, pp 17-41, 1981.
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