Introduction
Algorithms are methods developed by mathematicians, scientists, and engineers for manipulating data to provide insight and solutions to problems in theoretical and applied fields. Computer software is a vehicle for realizing algorithmic ideas. Open-source software is a vehicle for sharing those ideas that complements archival journal publications and other means of knowledge transfer.
This article explains the ideas and principles behind open-source software, how it works in practice, and its benefits and costs. It also describes a number of open-source tools and resources available for operations research and management science researchers and practitioners. The premier publisher of open-source software for operations research is the COIN-OR initiative. This article describes the COIN-OR initiative, its history, and the impact of open-source software and COIN-OR on the field of operations research.
Section “Open Source: What and Why” describes the concept of open-source...
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Saltzman, M.J. (2013). Open-Source Software and the Computational Infrastructure for Operations Research (COIN-OR). In: Gass, S.I., Fu, M.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Operations Research and Management Science. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1153-7_1148
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