Evaluation and implementation of heuristic algorithms for non-restricted global optimization

The aim of this paper, is to present to those researchers and practitioners not familiarized with the design, evaluation and use of heuristic algorithms for non-restricted non-linear global optimization, a set of hints that facilitate and promote a better understanding of the difficulties associated with this problem and the aspects related to successful use of a specific heuristic algorithm. Aspects as the features of the objective function, sensibility to the values of the parameters, and the use of plots for analyzing the behavior of an algorithm are discussed.