text: In this paper we generalize the framework of the feasible descent method (FDM) to a randomized (R-FDM) and a coordinate-wise random feasible descent method (RC-FDM) framework. We show that the famous SDCA algorithm for optimizing the SVM dual problem, or the stochastic coordinate descent method for the LASSO problem, fits into the framework of RC-FDM. We prove linear convergence for both R-FDM and RC-FDM under the weak strong convexity assumption. Moreover, we show that the duality gap converges linearly for RC-FDM, which implies that the duality gap also converges linearly for SDCA applied to the SVM dual problem.
  @cite_7: The standard assumption for proving linear convergence of first order methods for smooth convex optimization is the strong convexity of the objective function, an assumption which does not hold for many practical applications. In this paper, we derive linear convergence rates of several first order methods for solving smooth non-strongly convex constrained optimization problems, i.e. involving an objective function with a Lipschitz continuous gradient that satisfies some relaxed strong convexity condition. In particular, in the case of smooth constrained convex optimization, we provide several relaxations of the strong convexity conditions and prove that they are sufficient for getting linear convergence for several first order methods such as projected gradient, fast gradient and feasible descent methods. We also provide examples of functional classes that satisfy our proposed relaxations of strong convexity conditions. Finally, we show that the proposed relaxed strong convexity conditions cover important applications ranging from solving linear systems, Linear Programming, and dual formulations of linearly constrained convex problems.
  @cite_8: In this paper we propose distributed dual gradient algorithms for linearly constrained separable convex problems and analyze their rate of convergence under different assumptions. Under the strong convexity assumption on the primal objective function we propose two distributed dual fast gradient schemes for which we prove sublinear rate of convergence for dual suboptimality but also primal suboptimality and feasibility violation for an average primal sequence or for the last generated primal iterate. Under the additional assumption of Lipshitz continuity of the gradient of the primal objective function we prove a global error bound type property for the dual problem and then we analyze a dual gradient scheme for which we derive global linear rate of convergence for both dual and primal suboptimality and primal feasibility violation. We also provide numerical simulations on optimal power flow problems.
  @cite_10: 
  @cite_13: We describe an asynchronous parallel stochastic proximal coordinate descent algorithm for minimizing a composite objective function, which consists of a smooth convex function plus a separable convex function. In contrast to previous analyses, our model of asynchronous computation accounts for the fact that components of the unknown vector may be written by some cores simultaneously with being read by others. Despite the complications arising from this possibility, the method achieves a linear convergence rate on functions that satisfy an optimal strong convexity property and a sublinear rate ( @math ) on general convex functions. Near-linear speedup on a multicore system can be expected if the number of processors is @math . We describe results from implementation on ten cores of a multicore processor.
  @cite_12: In this paper we propose a distributed version of a randomized block-coordinate descent method for minimizing the sum of a partially separable smooth convex function and a fully separable non-smooth convex function. Under the assumption of block Lipschitz continuity of the gradient of the smooth function, this method is shown to have a sublinear convergence rate. Linear convergence rate of the method is obtained for the newly introduced class of generalized error bound functions. We prove that the new class of generalized error bound functions encompasses both global local error bound functions and smooth strongly convex functions. We also show that the theoretical estimates on the convergence rate depend on the number of blocks chosen randomly and a natural measure of separability of the objective function.
  @cite_17: We survey and extend a general approach to analyzing the convergence and the rate of convergence of feasible descent methods that does not require any nondegeneracy assumption on the problem. This approach is based on a certain error bound for estimating the distance to the solution set and is applicable to a broad class of methods.
summary: Luo and Tseng @cite_17 are among the first to establish asymptotic linear convergence for a non-strongly convex problem under the local error bound property. They consider a class of feasible descent methods (which includes e.g. the cyclic coordinate descent method). The error bound measures how close the current solution is to the optimal solution set with respect to the projected gradient. Recently, @cite_10 proved that the feasible descent method enjoys a linear convergence rate (from the beginning, rather than only locally) under the global error bound property. Considering the class of smooth constrained optimization problems with the global error bound property, @cite_12 @cite_8 showed a linear convergence rate for the parallel version of the stochastic coordinate descent method. In @cite_13 the authors analyzed the asynchronous stochastic coordinate descent method (SCDM) under the weak strong convexity assumption. Very recently, @cite_7 showed that, if the objective function is smooth, then the class of problems with the global error bound property is a subset of the class of problems with the weak strong convexity property.