Computational Experience and Real-World Context

Abstract

Dealing with non-standard packing problems, and precisely because they are by definition outside the framework of any conventional classification, poses, from the experimental point of view, non-negligible difficulties. Firstly, a remarkable effort is requested to collect, or even generate ex novo, non-trivial instances. They need, actually, to cover an adequate number of scenarios, representative of a sufficiently wide area of real-world applications. Secondly, the elaboration of instances of practical interest is mostly very time consuming. Therefore, an extensive dedicated test campaign is extremely demanding, both in terms of human and computational resources. This chapter provides insights on relevant experimental aspects.