Background on genetic algorithms, LISP, and genetic programming hierarchical problem-solving introduction to automatically-defined functions - the two-boxes problem problems that straddle the breakeven point for computational effort Boolean parity functions determining the architecture of the program the lawnmower problem the bumblebee problem the increasing benefits of ADFs as problems are scaled up finding an impulse response function artificial ant on the San Mateo trail obstacle-avoiding robot the minesweeper problem automatic discovery of detectors for letter recognition flushes and four-of-a-kinds in a pinochle deck introduction to biochemistry and molecular biology prediction of transmembrane domains in proteins prediction of omega loops in proteins lookahead version of the transmembrane problem evolutionary selection of the architecture of the program evolution of primitives and sufficiency evolutionary selection of terminals evolution of closure simultaneous evolution of architecture, primitive functions, terminals, sufficiency, and closure the role of representation and the lens effect Appendices: list of special symbols list of special functions list of type fonts default parameters computer implementation annotated bibliography of genetic programming electronic mailing list and public repository

Genetic Programming: On the Programming of Computers by Means of Natural Selection

From the Publisher:

"This is the best general book on Genetic Algorithms written to date. It covers background, history, and motivation; it selects important, informative examples of applications and discusses the use of Genetic Algorithms in scientific models; and it gives a good account of the status of the theory of Genetic Algorithms. Best of all the book presents its material in clear, straightforward, felicitous prose, accessible to anyone with a college-level scientific background. If you want a broad, solid understanding of Genetic Algorithms -- where they came from, what's being done with them, and where they are going -- this is the book.
-- John H. Holland, Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, and Professor of Psychology, The University of Michigan; External Professor, the Santa Fe Institute. 
Genetic algorithms have been used in science and engineering as adaptive algorithms for solving practical problems and as computational models of natural evolutionary systems. This brief, accessible introduction describes some of the most interesting research in the field and also enables readers to implement and experiment with genetic algorithms on their own. It focuses in depth on a small set of important and interesting topics -- particularly in machine learning, scientific modeling, and artificial life -- and reviews a broad span of research, including the work of Mitchell and her colleagues. 
The descriptions of applications and modeling projects stretch beyond the strict boundaries of computer science to include dynamical systems theory, game theory, molecular biology, ecology, evolutionary biology, and population genetics, underscoring the exciting "general purpose" nature of genetic algorithms as search methods that can be employed across disciplines. 
An Introduction to Genetic Algorithms is accessible to students and researchers in any scientific discipline. It includes many thought and computer exercises that build on and reinforce the reader's understanding of the text. 
The first chapter introduces genetic algorithms and their terminology and describes two provocative applications in detail. The second and third chapters look at the use of genetic algorithms in machine learning (computer programs, data analysis and prediction, neural networks) and in scientific models (interactions among learning, evolution, and culture; sexual selection; ecosystems; evolutionary activity). Several approaches to the theory of genetic algorithms are discussed in depth in the fourth chapter. The fifth chapter takes up implementation, and the last chapter poses some currently unanswered questions and surveys prospects for the future of evolutionary computation.

/pdf/an-introduction-to-genetic-algorithms-32faq13a56.pdf

An Introduction to Genetic Algorithms

From the Publisher:
This book explores the meta-heuristics approach called tabu search, which is dramatically changing our ability to solve a hostof problems that stretch over the realms of resource planning,telecommunications, VLSI design, financial analysis, scheduling, spaceplanning, energy distribution, molecular engineering, logistics,pattern classification, flexible manufacturing, waste management,mineral exploration, biomedical analysis, environmental conservationand scores of other problems. The major ideas of tabu search arepresented with examples that show their relevance to multipleapplications. Numerous illustrations and diagrams are used to clarifyprinciples that deserve emphasis, and that have not always been wellunderstood or applied. The book's goal is to provide ''hands-on' knowledge and insight alike, rather than to focus exclusively eitheron computational recipes or on abstract themes. This book is designedto be useful and accessible to researchers and practitioners inmanagement science, industrial engineering, economics, and computerscience. It can appropriately be used as a textbook in a masterscourse or in a doctoral seminar. Because of its emphasis on presentingideas through illustrations and diagrams, and on identifyingassociated practical applications, it can also be used as asupplementary text in upper division undergraduate courses. 

Finally, there are many more applications of tabu search than canpossibly be covered in a single book, and new ones are emerging everyday. The book's goal is to provide a grounding in the essential ideasof tabu search that will allow readers to create successfulapplications of their own. Along with the essentialideas,understanding of advanced issues is provided, enabling researchers togo beyond today's developments and create the methods of tomorrow.

Tabu Search

This tutorial covers the canonical genetic algorithm as well as more experimental forms of genetic algorithms, including parallel island models and parallel cellular genetic algorithms. The tutorial also illustrates genetic search by hyperplane sampling. The theoretical foundations of genetic algorithms are reviewed, include the schema theorem as well as recently developed exact models of the canonical genetic algorithm.

https://sci2s.ugr.es/sites/default/files/files/linksInterest/Tutorials/Whitley94.pdf

A genetic algorithm tutorial

Genetic algorithms for multi-objective optimization: formulation, discussion, and generalization

Similar to Genetic Algorithms, Evolution Strategies (ESs) are algorithms which imitate the principles of natural evolution as a method to solve parameter optimization problems. The development of Evolution Strategies from the rst mutation{selection scheme to the reened (,){ES including the general concept of self{adaptation of the strategy parameters for the mutation variances as well as their covariances are described.

A Survey of Evolution Strategies.

Common selection mechanisms used in Evolutionary Algorithms are combined to form some generalized variants of selection. These are applied to a Genetic Algorithm and are subject to an experimental comparison. The feature of extinctiveness as introduced in Evolution Strategies is identiied to be the main reason for a considerable speedup of the search in case of unimodal objective functions .

Extended Selection Mechanisms in Genetic Algorithms.

Evolution Strategies (ESs) and Genetic Algorithms (GAs) are compared in a formal as well as in an experimental way. It is shown, that both are identical with respect to their major working scheme, but nevertheless they exhibit significant differences with respect to the details of the selection scheme, the amount of the genetic representation and, especially, the self-adaptation of strategy parameters.

Genetic Algorithms and Evolution Strategies - Similarities and Differences

Evolution strategies (ESs) are a special class of probabilistic, direct, global optimization methods. They are similar to genetic algorithms but work in continuous spaces and have the additional capability of self-adapting their major strategy parameters. This paper presents the most important features of ESs, namely their self-adaptation, as well as their robustness and potential for parallelization which they share with other evolutionary algorithms.

Frank Hoffmeister

Papers

A Survey of Evolution Strategies.

Extended Selection Mechanisms in Genetic Algorithms.

Genetic Algorithms and Evolution Strategies - Similarities and Differences

Basic aspects of evolution strategies