Unified interactive multiple objective programming

Previous research has stressed the philosophical, strategic, and taxonomical differences among the procedures of interactive multiple objective programming. In this paper, however, we pursue a completely different tack by examining the all but overlooked implementation similarities of the interactive procedures. In doing so, the paper demonstrates how the preponderance of interactive procedures can be made to fit a single algorithmic outline. Then, by introducing the concept of the unified sampling program, and using only a modest inventory of component subroutines, it is shown how these procedures can be unified into a single algorithmic product. In addition, the unified approach of this paper supports procedure-switching, thus enabling a user to start with one procedure and switch to other procedures during the interactive process if so desired. A unified algorithm embracing STEM, the Geoffrion–Dyer–Feinberg procedure, interactive goal programming, Wierzbicki’s Aspiration Criterion Vector method, and five other prominent procedures is used to illustrate the degree to which the procedures of interactive multiple objective programming can be folded into one another when pursuing the unified strategy.