Theory Overview of Stochastic Optimization Algorithms -- General Remarks -- Exact Optimization Algorithms for Simple Problems -- Exact Optimization Algorithms for Complex Problems -- Monte Carlo -- Overview of Optimization Heuristics -- Implementation of Constraints -- Parallelization Strategies -- Construction Heuristics -- Markovian Improvement Heuristics -- Local Search -- Ruin & Recreate -- Simulated Annealing -- Threshold Accepting and Other Algorithms Related to Simulated Annealing -- Changing the Energy Landscape -- Estimation of Expectation Values -- Cooling Techniques -- Estimation of Calculation Time Needed -- Weakening the Pure Markovian Approach -- Neural Networks -- Genetic Algorithms and Evolution Strategies -- Optimization Algorithms Inspired by Social Animals -- Optimization Algorithms Based on Multiagent Systems -- Tabu Search -- Histogram Algorithms -- Searching for Backbones -- Applications -- General Remarks -- The Traveling Salesman Problem -- The Traveling Salesman Problem -- Extensions of Traveling Salesman Problem -- Application of Construction Heuristics to TSP -- Local Search Concepts Applied to TSP -- Next Larger Moves Applied to TSP -- Ruin & Recreate Applied to TSP -- Application of Simulated Annealing to TSP -- Dependencies of SA Results on Moves and Cooling Process -- Application to TSP of Algorithms Related to Simulated Annealing -- Application of Search Space Smoothing to TSP -- Further Techniques Changing the Energy Landscape of a TSP -- Application of Neural Networks to TSP -- Application of Genetic Algorithms to TSP -- Social Animal Algorithms Applied to TSP -- Simulated Trading Applied to TSP -- Tabu Search Applied to TSP -- Application of History Algorithms to TSP -- Application of Searching for Backbones to TSP -- Simulating Various Types of Government with Searching for Backbones -- The Constraint Satisfaction Problem -- The Constraint Satisfaction Problem -- Construction Heuristics for CSP -- Random Local Iterative Search Heuristics -- Belief Propagation and Survey Propagation -- Outlook -- Future Outlook of Optimization Business.