IWOPY: Fraunhofer IWES optimization tools inPython

Optimization problems are described by optimization variables, which are scalars that are modified during the process of optimization; objective functions, which depend on the variables and whose values define the metric for rating the choices of the latter; and constraints, which are also functions of the optimization variables and define validity of the solution.The variables can be discrete or continuous, bounded or unbounded; the number of objectives can be one or many; and constraints can require equality or inequality.Many Python packages formulate a framework for the description of such problems, accompanied by a library of optimizers.Hence, switching from one to another optimization package can often be tedious and a meta-solution is required that can serve as a single interface to multiple optimization packages.The package iwopy solves this problem by providing a convenient and flexible interface which is general enough to be applicable to a wide range of optimization problems.