Evolutionary Computation Theory and Paradigms

Evolutionary computation paradigms provide tools to build intelligent systems that model intelligent behavior and also provide insights into the workings of nature as well as a toolbox for engineers and others who need to solve extremely hard, often poorly specified, problems. This chapter provides information about the utilization of evolutionary computation tools to solve practical problems. It draws the perspective of an engineer or computer scientist, emphasizing the application potential of evolutionary computation tools and drawing comparisons with other applied problem solving techniques. The chapter begins with a brief history of evolutionary computation, followed by an overview of the evolutionary computation field. Comparisons of evolutionary computation tools and other processing methods are described.appear . Particle swarm optimization, which is sometimes considered a fifth component area of evolutionary computation, is also introduced. Genetic algorithms, evolutionary programming, evolution strategies, and genetic programming have a number of qualities in common, all evolve solutions, all utilize some kind of selection based on survival of the fittest, and all invoke some sort of evolutionary manipulation such as crossover or mutation.