Harmony Search as a Metaheuristic Algorithm

This first chapter intends to review and analyze the powerful new Harmony Search (HS) algorithm in the context of metaheuristic algorithms. I will first outline the fundamental steps of Harmony Search, and how it works. I then try to identify the characteristics of metaheuristics and analyze why HS is a good meta-heuristic algorithm. I then review briefly other popular metaheuristics such as par-ticle swarm optimization so as to find their similarities and differences from HS. Finally, I will discuss the ways to improve and develop new variants of HS, and make suggestions for further research including open questions.