Gaps: a genetic programming system

摘要

One of the major approaches in the field of evolutionary computation is genetic programming. Genetic programming tackles the issue of how to automatically create a computer program for a given problem from some initial problem statement. The goal is accomplished by genetically breeding a population of computer programs in terms of genetic operations. In this paper, we describe a genetic programming system called GAPS. GAPS has the following features: (1) It implements the standard generational algorithm for genetic programming with some refinement on controlling introns growth during evolution process and improved termination criteria. (2) It includes an extensible language tailored to the needs of genetic programming. And (3) It is a complete, standalone system that allows for genetic programming tasks to be carried out without requiring other tools such as compilers. Results with GAPS have been satisfactory.