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Introduction To Evolutionary Computing

Book in Natural Computing Series January 2003
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-662-05094-1

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A. E. Eiben

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VU University Amsterdam

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Introduction to
Evolutionary Computing II
A.E. Eiben
Free University Amsterdam
http://www.cs.vu.nl/~gusz/

with thanks to the EvoNet Training Committee and its Flying Circus

Contents

The evolutionary mechanism and its

components
Examples: the 8-queens problem
Working of an evolutionary algorithm
EC dialects and beyond
Advantages & disadvantages of EC
Summary

A.E. Eiben, Introduction to EC II

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The main evolutionary cycle

Parent selection

Parents

Intialization

Recombination
(crossover)
Population

Mutation
Termination

Offspring
Survivor selection
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The two pillars of evolution

There are two competing forces active
Increasing population
diversity by genetic
operators
mutation
recombination
Push towards novelty

A.E. Eiben, Introduction to EC II

Decreasing population
diversity by selection
of parents
of survivors

Push towards quality

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Components:
representation / individuals (1)
Individuals have two levels of existence
phenotype: object in original problem context, the outside
genotype: code to denote that object, the inside
(a.k.a. chromosome, digital DNA):
phenotype:

genotype:
a d c a a c b

The link between these levels is called representation

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Components:
representation / individiuals (2)
Phenotype space

Genotype space
Encoding
(representation)

R0c01cd
B0c01cd

G0c01cd

Decoding
(inverse representation)

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Components:
representation / individuals (3)

Sometimes producing
the phenotype from the
genotype is a simple
and obvious process.
Other times the
genotype might be a set
of parameters to some
algorithm, which works
on the problem data to
produce the phenotype

A.E. Eiben, Introduction to EC II

Genotype

Problem
Data

Growth
Function

Phenotype

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Components:
representation / individuals (4)

Search takes place in the genotype space

Evaluation takes place in the phenotype space
Repr: Phenotypes Genotypes
Fitness(g) = Value(repr-1(g))
Repr must be invertible, in other words decoding must be
injective (Q: surjective?)
Role of representation: defines objects that can be
manipulated by (genetic) operators
Note back on Darwinism: no mutations on phenotypic
level! (right term: small random variations)
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Components: evaluation, fitness

measure
Role:
represents the task to solve, the requirements to adapt to
enables selection (provides basis for comparison)

Some phenotypic traits are advantageous, desirable,

e.g. big ears cool better,

These traits are rewarded by more offspring that will

expectedly carry the same trait
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Components: population
Role: holds the candidate solutions of the problem as
individuals (genotypes)
Formally, a population is a multiset of individuals,
i.e. repetitions are possible
Population is the basic unit of evolution,
i.e., the population is evolving, not the individuals
Selection operators act on population level
Variation operators act on individual level
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Components: selection
Role:

Gives better individuals a higher chance of

becoming parents
surviving

Pushes population towards higher fitness

E.g. roulette wheel selection

1/6 = 17%

fitness(A) = 3
fitness(B) = 1

3/6 = 50%

2/6 = 33%

fitness(C) = 2
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Components: Mutation
Role: causes small (random) variance

before

1 1 1 1 1 1 1

after

1 1 1 0 1 1 1

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Components: Recombination
Role: combines features from different sources

cut

cut

1 1 1 1 1 1 1

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

1 1 1 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 1 1 1 1

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parents

offspring

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Example: the 8 queens problem

Place 8 queens on an 8x8 chessboard in

such a way that they cannot check each other
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The 8 queens problem

Representation

Phenotype:
a board configuration

Genotype:
a permutation of
the numbers 1 - 8
A.E. Eiben, Introduction to EC II

Obvious mapping

1 3 5 2 6 4 7 8
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The 8 queens problem

Fitness evaluation

Penalty of one queen:

the number of queens she can check.
Penalty of a configuration:
the sum of the penalties of all queens.

Note: penalty is to be minimized

Fitness of a configuration:
inverse penalty to be maximized
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The 8 queens problem

Mutation
Small variation in one permutation, e.g.:
swapping values of two randomly chosen positions, or
inverting a randomly chosen segment

1 3 5 2 6 4 7 8

A.E. Eiben, Introduction to EC II

1 3 7 2 6 4 5 8

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The 8 queens problem

Recombination
Combining two permutations into two new permutations:
choose random crossover point
copy first parts into children
create second part by inserting values from other
parent:
in the order they appear there
beginning after crossover point
skipping values already in child

1 3 5 2 6 4 7 8
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
A.E. Eiben, Introduction to EC II

1 3 5 4 2 8 7 6
8 7 6 2 4 1 3 5
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The 8 queens problem

Selection
Parent selection:
Roulette wheel selection, for instance
Survivor selection (replacement)
When inserting a new child into the population, choose
an existing member to replace by:

sorting the whole population by decreasing fitness

enumerating this list from high to low

replacing the first with a fitness lower than the given child

Note: selection works on fitness values, no need to adjust it

to representation
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Working of an EA
Phases in optimizing on a 1-dimensional fitness landscape
Early phase:
quasi-random population distribution

Mid-phase:
population arranged around/on hills

Late phase:
population concentrated on high hills
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Best fitness in population

Typical run

Time (number of generations)

Typical run of an EA shows so-called anytime behavior

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Best fitness in population

Long runs?

Progress in 2nd half

Progress in 1st half

Time (number of generations)

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Best fitness in population

Smart initialisation?

F: fitness after smart initialisation

T: time needed to reach level F after random initialisation

Time (number of generations)

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Performance of methods on problems

Goldberg89 view

Special, problem tailored method

Evolutionary algorithm

Random search

Scale of all problems

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EAs and domain knowledge

Trend in the 90ies: adding problem specific knowledge

to EAs (special variation operators, repair, etc)
Result: EA performance curve deformation:

better on problems of the given type

worse on problems different from given type

Amount of added knowledge is variable

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Michalewicz96 view
Performance of methods on problems

EA 4

EA 2

EA 3

EA 1

Scale of all problems

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General EA framework and dialects

There is a general, formal EA framework (omitted here)

In theory:

every EA is an instantiation of this framework, thus:

specifying a particular EA or a type of EAs (a dialect)
needs only filling in the characteristic features

In practice

this would be too formalistic

there are many exceptions (EAs not fitting into this
framework)
why care about the taxonomy, or label?

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Genetic algorithms &

genetic programming
Genetic algorithms (USA, 70s, Holland, DeJong):

Typically applied to: discrete optimization

Attributed features:

not too fast

good solver for combinatorial problems

Special: many variants, e.g., reproduction models, operators

Genetic programming (USA, 90s, Koza)

Typically applied to: machine learning tasks

Attributed features:

competes with neural nets and alike

slow
needs huge populations (thousands)

Special: non-linear chromosomes: trees, graphs

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Evolution strategies &

evolutionary programming
Evolution strategies (Germany, 70s, Rechenberg, Schwefel)

Typically applied to:

Attributed features:

fast & good optimizer for real-valued optimization

relatively much theory

Special:

numerical optimization

self-adaptation of (mutation) parameters standard

Evolutionary programming (USA, 60s, Fogel et al.)

Typically applied to: machine learning (old EP), optimization

Attributed features:

very open framework: any representation and mutation ops OK

Special:

no recombination
self-adaptation of parameters standard (contemporary EP)

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Beyond dialects

Field merging from the early 1990s

No hard barriers between dialects, many
hybrids, outliers
Choice for dialect should be motivated by given
problem
Best practical approach: choose representation,
operators, population model, etc. pragmatically
(and end up with an unclassifiable EA)
There are general issues for EC as a whole

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Advantages of EC

No presumptions w.r.t. problem space

Widely applicable
Low development & application costs
Easy to incorporate other methods
Solutions are interpretable (unlike NN)
Can be run interactively, accommodate user
proposed solutions
Provides many alternative solutions
Intrinsic parallelism,straightforward parallel
implementations

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Disadvantages of EC

No guarantee for optimal solution within

finite time
Weak theoretical basis
May need parameter tuning
Often computationally expensive, i.e. slow

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The performance of EC

Acceptable performance at acceptable costs on a wide range

of problems
EC niche (where supposedly superior to other techniques):
complex problems with one or more of the following features

many free parameters

complex relationships between parameters
mixed types of parameters (integer, real)
many local optima
multiple objectives
noisy data
changing conditions (dynamic fitness landscape)

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Summary
Evolutionary Computation:
is a method, based on biological metaphors,
of breeding solutions to problems
has been shown to be useful in a number of
areas
could be useful for your problem
its easy to give it a try
is FUN
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