Tabu Search — Local-Search Metaheuristic

Tabu Search is a local-search metaheuristic introduced by Fred Glover in 1989 that uses a tabu list — a short-term memory of recently visited solutions — to prevent cycling and escape local optima. By explicitly forbidding moves that reverse recent decisions, the algorithm explores the search space more broadly and, through long-term memory structures such as aspiration criteria, aims to approach the global optimum even in large, complex combinatorial problems.