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Grammatical Swarm: The generation of programs by social programming

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Abstract

This study examines Social Programming, that is, the construction of programs using a Social Swarm algorithm based on Particle Swarm Optimization. Each individual particle represents choices of program construction rules, where these rules are specified using a Backus–Naur Form grammar. This study represents the first instance of a Particle Swarm Algorithm being used to generate programs. A selection of benchmark problems from the field of Genetic Programming are tackled and performance is compared to Grammatical Evolution. The results demonstrate that it is possible to successfully generate programs using the Grammatical Swarm technique. An analysis of the Grammatical Swarm approach is presented on the dynamics of the search. It is found that restricting the search to the generation of complete programs, or with the use of a ratchet constraint forcing individuals to move only if a fitness improvement has been found, can have detrimental consequences for the swarms performance and dynamics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Natural Computing Research & Applications Group, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Michael O’Neill & Anthony Brabazon

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  1. Michael O’Neill
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  2. Anthony Brabazon
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Correspondence to Michael O’Neill.

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O’Neill, M., Brabazon, A. Grammatical Swarm: The generation of programs by social programming. Nat Comput 5, 443–462 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11047-006-9007-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11047-006-9007-7

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