my @items my @best_layout my $least_error for (0..100) { foreach @items add to layout at random x,y best_error_measure = sum of badness of all inter-item distances my $jiggle_distance = largish while($jiggle_distance > smallish) { randomly pick item try it in four alternate locations (up, down, left, right) if(new_error_measure < best_error_measure) keep the item in its best new location else jiggle_distance *= 0.95 } if(best_error_measure < least_error) { save layout into best_layout least_error = best_error_measure } }