Genetic algorithm resource

Question

Lately I'm interested in the topic of genetic algorithms, but I couldn't find any good resource. If you know any good resource, book or a site I would appreciate it. I have solid knowledge of algorithms and Artificial Intelligence but I'm looking for something with good introduction in Genetic Programming.

Solution 1

Best references for me so far:

• Genetic Algorithms in Search, Optimization, and Machine Learning by David E. Goldberg: a classic, still considered as the bible of GAs by many.
• An Introduction to Genetic Algorithms by Melanie Mitchell: more recent than the previous reference and packed with probably more interesting examples.
• A Field Guide to Genetic Programming by Poli, Langdon, McPhee: this is more of a hands on guide and is getting very good reviews.

Also if you're an absolute beginner I'd suggest you to start with the Hello World of Genetics Algorithms. There's nothing like a nice clean example to get started.

Solution 2

I found Melanie Mitchell's book, An Introduction to Genetic Algorithms, to be very good. For a wider coverage of evolutionary computation topics, Introduction to Evolutionary Computing by Eiben and Smith is also worthwhile.

If you're just starting out, I recently wrote an introductory article that may be of use.

There are further links both in that article and also on the home page for my evolutionary computation framework.

Solution 3

I know this is an old question, but no answer has been accepted yet, so I thought I'd add my own contribution. One of the best free resources in my opinion for all things related to evolutionary computation (genetic algorithms, evolution strategies, genetic programming, etc.) is Sean Luke's online book Essentials of Metaheuristics.

Solution 4

This is a nice free book on the subject

http://www.lulu.com/items/volume_63/2167000/2167025/2/print/book.pdf

Solution 5

Here is Roger Alsing's recent article about building "Mona Lisa's picture" with a genetic algorithm :http://rogeralsing.com/2008/12/07/genetic-programming-evolution-of-mona-lisa/

Edited to remove hot link to the picture See: http://rogeralsing.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/evolutionofmonalisa1.gif

I've implemented my own version of this algorithm:

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See http://plindenbaum.blogspot.com/2008/12/random-notes-2008-12.html

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Comments

[LabRat01010]

@Jamie. You're right. I removed the link.

[Steve]

The original is not even close to a genetic algorithm (haven't looked at yours though). Its simulated annealing with a greedy acceptance criteria.

[bias]

Be careful what you're calling a GA!

[Cody]

I should say, An Introduction to Genetic Algorithms by Melanie Mitchell is a good bet. I read Melane Mitchell's "Complexity: A Guided Tour" for Complex Systems Theory -- and I can't imagine a better job done at writing technical material.

[JohnIdol]

@Cody yeah Complexity is very good, I like it a lot too :)