I used a simple genetic algorithm to optimize the signal to noise ratio of a wave that was represented as a binary string. By flipping the the bits certain ways over several million generations I was able to produce a transform that resulted in a higher signal to noise ratio of that wave. The algorithm could have also been "Simulated Annealing" but was not used in this case. At their core, genetic algorithms are simple, and this was about as simple of a use case that I have seen, so I didn't use a framework for generation creation and selection - only a random seed and the Signal-to-Noise Ratio function at hand.

Several years ago I used ga's to optimize asr (automatic speech recognition) grammars for better recognition rates. I started with fairly simple lists of choices (where the ga was testing combinations of possible terms for each slot) and worked my way up to more open and complex grammars. Fitness was determined by measuring separation between terms/sequences under a kind of phonetic distance function. I also experimented with making weakly equivalent variations on a grammar to find one that compiled to a more compact representation (in the end I went with a direct algorithm, and it drastically increased the size of the "language" that we could use in applications).

最近，我将它们用作默认假设，以此来测试由各种算法生成的解决方案的质量。这主要涉及分类和不同类型的拟合问题(即创建一个“规则”，解释审查员对数据集所做的一组选择)。

当你打算粉刷你的房子时，通常很难得到一个确切的颜色组合。通常，你脑海中有一些颜色，但它不是其中一种颜色，供应商向你展示。

昨天，我的GA研究员教授提到了一个发生在德国的真实故事(对不起，我没有更多的参考资料，是的，如果有人要求我可以找到它)。这个家伙(让我们称他为配色员)曾经挨家挨户地帮助人们找到确切的颜色代码(RGB)，这将是客户心目中的衣柜。下面是他的做法:

The color guy used to carry with him a software program which used GA. He used to start with 4 different colors- each coded as a coded Chromosome (whose decoded value would be a RGB value). The consumer picks 1 of the 4 colors (Which is the closest to which he/she has in mind). The program would then assign the maximum fitness to that individual and move onto the next generation using mutation/crossover. The above steps would be repeated till the consumer had found the exact color and then color guy used to tell him the RGB combination!

通过将最大适应度分配给接近消费者想法的颜色，配色员的程序增加了收敛到消费者想法的颜色的机会。我发现它很有趣!

现在我已经得到了一个-1，如果你计划更多的-1，请说明这样做的原因!

我不知道家庭作业算不算…

在我学习期间，我们推出了自己的程序来解决旅行推销员问题。

我们的想法是对几个标准进行比较(映射问题的难度，性能等)，我们还使用了其他技术，如模拟退火。

它运行得很好，但我们花了一段时间来理解如何正确地进行“复制”阶段:将手头的问题建模成适合遗传编程的东西，这对我来说是最难的部分……

这是一门有趣的课程，因为我们也涉猎了神经网络之类的知识。

我想知道是否有人在“生产”代码中使用这种编程。

我年轻时就尝试过GA。我用Python写了一个模拟器，工作原理如下。

这些基因编码了神经网络的权重。

神经网络的输入是检测触摸的“天线”。较高的数值表示非常接近，0表示不接触。

输出是两个“轮子”。如果两个轮子都向前，这个人也向前。如果轮子方向相反，他就会转向。输出的强度决定了车轮转动的速度。

生成了一个简单的迷宫。这真的很简单，甚至很愚蠢。屏幕下方是起点，上方是球门，中间有四面墙。每面墙都有一个随机的空间，所以总是有一条路。

一开始我只是随机挑选一些人(我认为他们是bug)。只要有一个人达到了目标，或者达到了时间限制，就会计算适合度。它与当时到目标的距离成反比。

然后我把它们配对，“培育”它们来创造下一代。被选择繁殖的概率与它的适应性成正比。有时，这意味着如果一个人具有非常高的相对适应性，就会与自己反复繁殖。

I thought they would develop a "left wall hugging" behavior, but they always seemed to follow something less optimal. In every experiment, the bugs converged to a spiral pattern. They would spiral outward until they touched a wall to the right. They'd follow that, then when they got to the gap, they'd spiral down (away from the gap) and around. They would make a 270 degree turn to the left, then usually enter the gap. This would get them through a majority of the walls, and often to the goal.

我添加的一个功能是在基因中放入一个颜色矢量来跟踪个体之间的相关性。几代之后，它们的颜色都是一样的，这说明我应该有更好的繁殖策略。

我试着让他们制定更好的策略。我把神经网络复杂化了——增加了记忆和其他东西。这没有用。我总是看到同样的策略。

我尝试了各种方法，比如建立单独的基因库，在100代之后才重新组合。但没有什么能促使他们采取更好的策略。也许这是不可能的。

另一个有趣的事情是绘制适应度随时间变化的图表。有明确的模式，比如最大适合度在上升之前会下降。我从未见过一本进化论的书谈到这种可能性。

我是一个研究使用进化计算(EC)来自动修复现有程序中的错误的团队的成员。我们已经在现实世界的软件项目中成功地修复了一些真实的错误(参见本项目的主页)。

这种EC修复技术有两种应用。

The first (code and reproduction information available through the project page) evolves the abstract syntax trees parsed from existing C programs and is implemented in Ocaml using our own custom EC engine. The second (code and reproduction information available through the project page), my personal contribution to the project, evolves the x86 assembly or Java byte code compiled from programs written in a number of programming languages. This application is implemented in Clojure and also uses its own custom built EC engine.

进化计算的一个优点是技术的简单性，使得编写自己的自定义实现不太困难。有关遗传规划的一个很好的免费的介绍性文本，请参阅遗传规划的现场指南。