Introduction
Archive-name: ai-faq/genetic/part1
Last-Modified: 3/20/95
Issue: 3.1
The
Hitch-Hiker's
Guide to
Evolutionary Computation
(FAQ in comp.ai.genetic)
edited by
Joerg Heitkoetter
c/o EUnet Deutschland GmbH,
Techo-Park, Emil-Figge-Str. 80,
D-44227 Dortmund, Germany
<joke@Germany.EU.net>
or <joke@alife.santafe.edu>
and
David Beasley
c/o Department of Computing Mathematics
University of Wales, College of Cardiff
Cardiff, United Kingdom
<david.beasley@cm.cf.ac.uk>
PLEASE:
Search this posting first if you have a question
and
If someone else asks a question which is answered in here
DON'T POST THE ANSWER TO THE NEWSGROUP:
POINT THE ASKER TO THE FAQ
and finally
DON'T PANIC!
FAQ /F-A-Q/ or /fak/ [USENET] n. 1. A Frequently Asked Question.
2. A compendium of accumulated lore, posted periodically to
high-volume newsgroups in an attempt to forestall such
questions. Some people prefer the term `FAQ list' or `FAQL'
/fa'kl/, reserving `FAQ' for sense 1.
RTFAQ
/R-T-F-A-Q/ [USENET: primarily written, by analogy with RTFM]
imp. Abbrev. for `Read the FAQ!', an exhortation that the person
addressed ought to read the newsgroup's FAQ list before posting
questions.
RTFM /R-T-F-M/ [UNIX] imp. Acronym for `Read The Fucking Manual'. 1.
Used by gurus to brush off questions they consider trivial or
annoying. Compare Don't do that, then! 2. Used when reporting
a problem to indicate that you aren't just asking out of
randomness. "No, I can't figure out how to interface UNIX to my
toaster, and yes, I have RTFM." Unlike sense 1, this use is
considered polite. ...
--- "The on-line hacker Jargon File, version 3.0, 29 July
1993", available via anon. ftp to ftp.gnu.ai.mit.edu as
"/pub/gnu/jarg300.txt.gz"
PREFACE
This posting is intended to help, provide basic information, and
serve as a first straw for individuals, i.e. uninitiated hitch-
hikers, who are stranded in the mindboggling universe of Evolutionary
Computation (EC); that in turn is only a small footpath to an even
more mindboggling scientific universe, that, incorporating Fuzzy
Systems, and Artificial Neural Networks, is sometimes referred to as
Computational Intelligence (CI); that in turn is only part of an even
more advanced scientific universe of mindparalysing complexity, that
incorporating Artificial Life, Fractal Geometry, and other Complex
Systems Sciences might someday be referred to as Natural Computation
(NC).
Over the course of the past years, GLOBAL OPTIMIZATION algorithms
imitating certain principles of nature have proved their usefulness
in various domains of applications. Especially worth copying are
those principles where nature has found "stable islands" in a
"turbulent ocean" of solution possibilities. Such phenomena can be
found in annealing processes, central nervous systems and biological
EVOLUTION, which in turn have lead to the following OPTIMIZATION
methods: Simulated Annealing (SA), Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs)
and the field of Evolutionary Computation (EC).
EC may currently be characterized by the following pathways: Genetic
Algorithms (GA), Evolutionary Programming (EP), Evolution Strategies
(ES), Classifier Systems (CFS), Genetic Programming (GP), and several
other problem solving strategies, that are based upon biological
observations, that date back to Charles Darwin's discoveries in the
19th century: the means of natural selection and the survival of the
fittest, i.e. the "theory of evolution." The inspired algorithms are
thus termed Evolutionary Algorithms (EA).
Moreover, this posting is intended to help those who are just
beginning to read this newsgroup, and those who are new "on" USENET.
It shall help to avoid lengthy discussions of questions that usually
arise for beginners of one or the other kind, and which are boring to
read again and again by comp.ai.genetic "old-timers."
You will see this posting popping up periodically in the USENET
newsgroup comp.ai.genetic (and also comp.answers, and news.answers,
where it should be locatable at any time).
CONTRIBUTIONS
Contributions, additions, corrections, cash, etc. are always welcome.
Send e-mail to the address above.
DISCLAIMER
This periodic posting is not meant to discuss any topic exhaustively,
but should be thought of as a list of reference pointers, instead.
This posting is provided on an "as is" basis, NO WARRANTY whatsoever
is expressed or implied, especially, NO WARRANTY that the information
contained herein is up-to-date, correct or useful in any way,
although all this is intended.
Moreover, please note that the opinions expressed herein do not
necessarily reflect those of the editors' institutions or employers,
neither as a whole, nor in part. They are just the amalgamation of
the editors' collections of ideas, and contributions gleaned from
other sources.
NOTE: some portions of this otherwise rather dry guide are intended
to be satirical. If you do not recognize it as such, consult your
local doctor or a professional comedian.
HITCH-HIKING THE FAQNIVERSE
This guide is big. Really big. You just won't believe how hugely,
vastly, mindbogglingly big it is. That's why it has been split into a
"trilogy" -- which, like all successful trilogies, eventually ends up
consisting of more than three parts.
Searching for answers
To find the answer of question number x, just search for the string
"Qx:". (So the answer to question 42 is at "Q42:"!)
What does, e.g. [ICGA85] mean?
Some books are referenced again and again, that's why they have this
kind of "tag", that an experienced hitch-hiker will search for in the
list of books (see Q10: and Q12: and other places) to dissolve the
riddle. Here, they have a ":" appended, thus you can search for the
string "[ICGA85]:" for example.
Why all this UPPERCASING in running text?
Words written in all uppercase letters are cross-references to
entries in the Glossary (see Q99). Again, they have a ":" appended,
thus if you find, say EVOLUTION, you can search for the string
"EVOLUTION:" in the Glossary.
FTP and HTTP naming conventions
A file available on an FTP server will be specified as: <ftp-site-
name>:<the-complete-filename> So for example, the file bar.tar.gz in
the directory /pub/foo on the ftp server ftp.certain.site would be
specified as: ftp.certain.site:/pub/foo/bar.tar.gz
A specification ending with a "/" is a reference to a whole
directory, e.g. ftp.certain.site:/pub/foo/
HTTP files are specified in a similar way, but with the prefix:
http://
Referencing this Guide
If you want to reference this guide it should look like:
Heitkoetter, Joerg and Beasley, David, eds. (1994) "The Hitch-
Hiker's Guide to Evolutionary Computation: A list of Frequently Asked
Questions (FAQ)", USENET : comp.ai.genetic. Available via anonymous
FTP from rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/ai-faq/genetic/ About
90 pages.
Or simply call it "the Guide", or "HHGTEC" for acronymaniacs.
Obtaining copies of this guide
This FAQ is available between postings on
rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/ai-faq/genetic/ as the files:
part1 to part6. The FAQ may also be retrieved by e-mail from <mail-
server@rtfm.mit.edu>. Send a message to the mail-server with "help"
and "index" in the body on separate lines for more information.
A PostScript version is also available. This looks really crisp
(using boldface, italics, etc.), and is available for those who
prefer offline reading. Get it from ENCORE (See Q15.3) in file
FAQ/hhgtec.ps.gz (the ASCII text versions are in the same directory
too). In Germany, its also available from the SyS ftp-server:
lumpi.informatik.uni-dortmund.de:/pub/EA/docs/hhgtec.ps.gz
"As a net is made up of a series of ties, so everything in
this world is connected by a series of ties. If anyone thinks
that the mesh of a net is an independent, isolated thing, he is
mistaken. It is called a net because it is made up of a series
of interconnected meshes, and each mesh has its place and
responsibility in relation to other meshes."
--- Buddha
The ZEN Puzzle
For some weird reason this guide contains some puzzles which can only
be solved by cautious readers who have (1) a certain amount of a
certain kind of humor, (2) a certain amount of patience and time, (3)
a certain amount of experience in ZEN NAVIGATION, and (4) a certain
amount of books of a certain author.
Usually, puzzles search either for certain answers (more often, ONE
answer) to a question; or, for the real smartasses, sometimes an
answer is presented, and a certain question is searched for. ZEN
puzzles are even more challenging: you have to come up with an answer
to a question, both of which are not explicitly, rather implicitly
stated somewhere in this FAQ. Thus, you are expected to give an
answer AND a question!
To give an impression what this is all about, consider the following,
submitted by Craig W. Reynolds. The correct question is: "Why is
Fisher's `improbability quote' (cf EPILOGUE) included in this FAQ?",
Craig's correct answer is: `This is a GREAT quotation, it sounds like
something directly out of a turn of the century Douglas Adams:
Natural SELECTION: the original "Infinite Improbability Drive"' Got
the message? Well, this was easy and very obvious. The other puzzles
are more challenging...
However, all this is just for fun (mine and hopefully yours), there
is nothing like the $100 price, some big shots in computer science,
e.g. Don Knuth usually offer; all there is but a honorable
mentioning of the ZEN navigator, including the puzzle s/he solved.
It's thus like in real life: don't expect to make money from your
time being a scientist, it's all just for the fun of it...
Enjoy the trip!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part1
Q0: How about an introduction to all this?
Q0.1: What is comp.ai.genetic all about?
Q0.2: How do I get started? What about USENET documentation?
Part2
Q1: What are Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs)?
Q1.1: What's a Genetic Algorithm (GA)?
Q1.2: What's Evolutionary Programming (EP)?
Q1.3: What's an Evolution Strategy (ES)?
Q1.4: What's a Classifier System (CFS)?
Q1.5: What's Genetic Programming (GP)?
Part3
Q2: What applications of EAs are there?
Q3: Who is concerned with EAs?
Q4: How many EAs exist? Which?
Q4.1: What about Alife systems, like Tierra and VENUS?
Q5: What about all this Optimization stuff?
Part4
Q10: What introductory material on EAs is there?
Q10.1: Suitable background reading for beginners?
Q10.2: Textbooks on EC?
Q10.3: The Classics?
Q10.4: Introductory Journal Articles?
Q10.5: Introductory Technical Reports?
Q10.6: Not-quite-so-introductory Literature?
Q10.7: Biological Background Readings?
Q10.8: On-line bibliography collections?
Q10.9: Videos?
Q10.10: CD-ROMs?
Q10.11: How do I get a copy of a dissertation?
Q11: What EC related journals and magazines are there?
Q12: What are the important conferences/proceedings on EC?
Q13: What Evolutionary Computation Associations exist?
Q14: What Technical Reports are available?
Q15: What information is available over the net?
Q15.1: What digests are there?
Q15.2: What mailing lists are there?
Q15.3: What online information repositories are there?
Q15.4: What relevant newsgroups and FAQs are there?
Q15.5: What about all these Internet Services?
Part5
Q20: What EA software packages are available?
Q20.1: Free software packages?
Q20.2: Commercial software packages?
Q20.3: Current research projects?
Part6
Q21: What are Gray codes, and why are they used?
Q22: What test data is available?
Q42: What is Life all about?
Q42b: Is there a FAQ to this group?
Q98: Are there any patents on EAs?
Q99: A Glossary on EAs?
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