Permutation-based combinatorial optimization problems have very wide application. Aim of the study is to design a real coding mechanism for evolutionary computing to solve permutation-based COPs. A real adjacency matrix-coded differential evolutionary algorithm (RAMDE) is proposed to solve traveling salesman problem (TSP): a classic COP. Considering TSP structure, a swarm of real adjacency matrices is adopted to represent individuals within population and arithmetical operators of DE execute in