Hiking with Your Dog

Combinatorial optimization problems arise across logistics, scheduling, and engineering, and C++ remains a language of choice when performance matters. This lecture takes a practical look at solving such problems in C++, using the Electric Vehicle Routing Problem as a running example. We begin with an exact solver, formulating the problem as a mixed-integer program and trying to solve it through GLPK's C API directly from C++. Exact methods, however, quickly hit their limits on real-world instances. The second half of the talk turns to metaheuristics: how they are designed, why C++ is particularly well suited for implementing them, and what design choices matter most in practice. We'll walk through a concrete implementation, touching on data structures for fast neighborhood evaluation, generic algorithm design with templates, and the performance considerations that separate a prototype from a production-ready solver. The goal is not to advocate for one approach over another, but to show how C++ supports the full spectrum of optimization techniques. # About Speaker Luka Matijević is a researcher at the Mathematical Institute of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, whose work bridges academic research and freelance engineering. He's drawn to identifying the right algorithm for a given problem — and to the kind of careful optimization captured by one of his favourite Futurama lines: *"When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all."* ## 📅 Event Details | | | | --- | --- | | 👤 **Speaker** | **[Luka Matijević](https://www.linkedin.com/in/luka-matijevic/)** | | 🕕 **Date & Time** | **27th of May (Wednesday), 6 pm** | | 📍 **Location** | **Beograđanka, Vidikovac, 22nd floor** | | 🏢 **Address** | **Masarikova 5** | | 💻 **Online** | **[C++ Serbia YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@cppserbia)** | See you!

Hi ladies. Let's hike the Edward Thomas, Spring Creek, and a little multi-purpose trail - approximately 4 miles so please wear your shoe of choice. Please bring a water bottle as needed and appropriate shoes. Meet in the Maple Grove Picnic area.

Hi ladies. Let's hike the edward thomas trail, lake trail , spring creek and a short walk on the multi purpose trail. This is one large loop . Wear your shoe of choice. Meet in the Maple Grove Picnic area. 4.2 miles in length .

Hi ladies. We will meet in front of the Nature Center and head to the two Observation decks. We will then hike Hickory Ridge, Ripple Rock, Overlook and Sugarbush trails to get approximately four miles total distance. We will walk approximately a 18 minute mile pace. Please wear appropriate hiking shoes.

We'll get in around 4 miles at Three Creeks Metro Parks, primarily natural trails. 17-18 minute miles, no one left behind, and faster walkers are free to lead out. Optional lunch after! If you're joining for hiking all the metro parks, this is the sixth one!