Genetic Programming

Genetic Programming is a subclass of evolutionary algorithms, wherein a population of individual programs is evolved. The main mechanism behind genetic programming is that of a generic algorithm, namely, the repeated cycling through four operations applied to the entire population: evaluate–select–crossover–mutate. Starting with an initial population of randomly generated programs, each individual is evaluated in the domain environment and assigned a fitness value representing how well the individual solves the problem at hand. Being randomly generated, the first-generation individuals usually exhibit poor performance. However, some individuals are better than others, that is, as in nature, variability exists, and through the mechanism of selection, these have a higher probability of being selected to parent the next generation. The size of the population is finite and usually constant.

See Evolutionary Games for a more detailed explanation of genetic programming.