Introduction

Abstract

In this chapter, we provide brief introductions to the basic concepts of global optimization, evolutionary computation, and swarm intelligence. The necessity of solving optimization problems is outlined and various problem types are reported. A rough classification of established optimization algorithms is provided, followed by the historical development of evolutionary computation. The three fundamental evolutionary approaches are briefly presented, along with their basic features and operations. Finally, the reader is introduced to the field of swarm intelligence, and a strong theoretical result is concisely reported to justify the necessity for further development of global optimization algorithms.