Installation#

Surfaces is designed to be lightweight. The core installation requires only numpy as a dependency.

Core Installation#

pip install surfaces

This gives you:

  • All Algebraic test functions (1D, 2D, N-D)

  • All BBOB functions (Black-Box Optimization Benchmarking)

  • All CEC functions (Competition on Evolutionary Computation)

  • All Engineering design problems

Requirements:

  • Python 3.10 or higher

  • NumPy >= 1.18.1

That’s it. No heavy dependencies, fast installation, CI/CD friendly.

Optional Features#

Add features only when you need them:

CEC Functions

Additional setup for CEC benchmark suites. Some CEC functions require extra configuration.

pip install surfaces[cec]
CEC Functions
Machine Learning

ML-based test functions using scikit-learn, XGBoost, and other ML libraries.

pip install surfaces[ml]
Machine Learning
Surrogates

Pre-trained surrogate models for fast evaluation of expensive functions.

pip install surfaces[surrogates]
Surrogates
Visualization

Surface plots, contour plots, and interactive visualizations.

pip install surfaces[viz]
Visualization

Full Installation#

Install everything at once:

pip install surfaces[full]

This includes all optional features: ML functions, surrogates, and visualization.

Installing from Source#

For the latest development version:

git clone https://github.com/SimonBlanke/Surfaces.git
cd Surfaces
pip install -e .

For development with all dependencies:

pip install -e ".[dev,test]"

Verifying Installation#

import surfaces
print(f"Surfaces version: {surfaces.__version__}")

# Test a simple function
from surfaces.test_functions.algebraic import SphereFunction
func = SphereFunction(n_dim=2)
result = func({"x0": 0.0, "x1": 0.0})
print(f"Sphere(0, 0) = {result}")  # Should print 0.0

Platform Support#

Surfaces is tested on:

  • Linux (Ubuntu)

  • macOS

  • Windows

Troubleshooting#

Import Errors#

If you get import errors for specific features:

# For ML functions
pip install surfaces[ml]

# For visualization
pip install surfaces[viz]

# For surrogates
pip install surfaces[surrogates]

Version Conflicts#

Try a fresh virtual environment:

python -m venv surfaces-env
source surfaces-env/bin/activate  # Windows: surfaces-env\Scripts\activate
pip install surfaces

Getting Help#

  1. Check the FAQ for common problems

  2. Search existing issues

  3. Open a new issue on GitHub