An object-oriented methodology for solving the RCPSPs with heuristics and mataheuristics

Because various heuristics and metaheuristics have been proposed to solve the well known NP-hard, resource-constrained project scheduling problem ( RCPSP), it is currently di? cult to compare the computational efficiency of these heuristics implemented on different computers where, in addition, the computer codes may have been written in different computer languages. This problem is solved when all relevant heuristics can be applied within the framework of a single computer program. By use of the object-oriented programming (OOP) methodology, we developed a general software framework for the heuristics and metaheuristics for solving the RCPSP. Currently this includes six heuristics and two metaheuristics. The framework of the software allows a more advanced user to append more effective heuristics and play around with several parameters of these metaheuristics with a bare minimum of coding effort.