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- From: joke@ls11.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (Joerg Heitkoetter)
- Newsgroups: comp.ai.genetic,comp.answers,news.answers
- Subject: FAQ: comp.ai.genetic part 2/3 (A Guide to Frequently Asked Questions)
- Supersedes: <part2_753815849@lusty.informatik.uni-dortmund.de>
- Followup-To: comp.ai.genetic
- Date: 27 Dec 1993 18:06:21 GMT
- Organization: CS Department, University of Dortmund, Germany
- Lines: 1729
- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu
- Expires: 9 Feb 1994 18:06:12 GMT
- Message-ID: <part2_757015572@lusty.informatik.uni-dortmund.de>
- References: <part1_757015572@lusty.informatik.uni-dortmund.de>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: home.informatik.uni-dortmund.de
- Summary: This is part 2 of a trilogy entitled "The Hitch-Hiker's Guide
- to Evolutionary Computation". A monthly published list of Frequently
- Asked Questions (and their answers) about Evolutionary Algorithms,
- Life and Everything. It should be read by anyone who whishes to post
- to the comp.ai.genetic newsgroup, preferably *before* posting.
- Originator: joke@ls11.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (Joerg Heitkoetter)
- Xref: bloom-beacon.mit.edu comp.ai.genetic:1998 comp.answers:3186 news.answers:13391
-
- Archive-name: ai-faq/genetic/part2
- Last-Modified: 12/20/93
- Issue: 1.10
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- A5) What about all this Optimization stuff? [preliminary]
- Just think of an optimization problem as a black box. A large black
- box. As large as, for example, a Coca-Cola vending machine. Now, we
- don't know nothing about the inner workings of this box, but see,
- that there are some regulators to play with, and of course we know,
- that we want to have a bottle of the real thing...
-
- Putting this everyday problem into a mathematical model, we proceed
- as follows:
-
- (1) we label all the regulators with x and a number starting from 1;
- the result is a vector x, i.e. (x_1,...,x_n), where n is the
- number of visible regulators.
-
- (2) we must find an objective function, in this case it's obvious, we
- want to get k bottles of the real thing, where k is equal to 1.
- [some might want a "greater or equal" here, but we restricted
- ourselves to the visible regulators (we all know that sometimes a
- "kick in the right place" gets use more than 1, but I have no
- idea how to put this mathematically...)]
-
- (3) thus, in the language some mathematicians prefer to speak in:
- f(x) = k = 1. So, what we have here is a maximization problem
- presented in a form we know from some boring calculus lessons,
- and we also know that there at least a dozen utterly
- uninteresting techniques to solve problems presented this way...
-
- What can we do in order to solve this problem?
- We can either try to gain more knowledge or exploit what we already
- know about the interior of the black box. If the objective function
- turns out to be smooth and differentiable, analytical methods will
- produce the exact solution.
-
- If this turns out to be impossible, we might resort to the brute
- force method of enumerating the entire SEARCH SPACE. But with the
- number of possibilities growing exponentially in n, the number of
- dimensions (inputs), this method becomes infeasible even for low-
- dimensional spaces.
-
- Consequently, mathematicians have developed theories for certain
- kinds of problems leading to specialized optimization procedures.
- These algorithms perform well if the black box fulfils their
- respective prerequisites. For example, Dantzig's simplex algorithm
- (Dantzig 66) probably represents the best known multidimensional
- method capable of efficiently finding the global optimum of a linear,
- hence convex, objective function in a SEARCH SPACE limited by linear
- constraints. (A USENET FAQ on linear programming is maintained by
- John W. Gregory of Cray Research, Inc. Try to get your hands on
- "linear-programming-faq" (and "nonlinear-programming-faq") that is
- posted monthly to sci.op-research and mostly interesting to read.)
-
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- Gradient strategies are no longer tied to these linear worlds, but
- they smooth their world by exploiting the objective function's first
- partial derivatives one has to supply in advance. Therefore, these
- algorithms rely on a locally linear internal model of the black box.
-
- Newton strategies additionally require the second partial
- derivatives, thus building a quadratic internal model. Quasi-Newton,
- conjugate gradient and variable metric strategies approximate this
- information during the search.
-
- The deterministic strategies mentioned so far cannot cope with
- deteriorations, so the search will stop if anticipated improvements
- no longer occur. In a multimodal ENVIRONMENT these algorithms move
- "uphill" from their respective starting points. Hence, they can only
- converge to the next local optimum.
-
- Newton-Raphson-methods might even diverge if a discrepancy between
- their internal assumptions and reality occurs. But of course, these
- methods turn out to be superior if a given task matches their
- requirements. Not relying on derivatives, polyeder strategy, pattern
- search and rotating coordinate search should also be mentioned here
- because they represent robust non-linear optimization algorithms
- (Schwefel 81).
-
- Dealing with technical optimization problems, one will rarely be able
- to write down the objective function in a closed form. We often need
- a simulation model in order to grasp reality. In general, one cannot
- even expect these models to behave smoothly. Consequently,
- derivatives do not exist. That is why optimization algorithms that
- can successfully deal with black box-type situations habe been
- developed. The increasing applicability is of course paid for by a
- loss of CONVERGENCE VELOCITY, compared to algorithms specially
- designed for the given problem. Furthermore, the guarantee to find
- the global optimum no longer exists!
-
- But why turn to nature when looking for more powerful algorithms?
- In the attempt to create tools for various purposes, mankind has
- copied, more often instinctively than geniously, solutions invented
- by nature. Nowadays, one can prove in some cases that certain forms
- or structures are not only well adapted to their ENVIRONMENT but have
- even reached the optimum (Rosen 67). This is due to the fact that the
- laws of nature have remained stable during the last 3.5 billion
- years. For instance, at branching points the measured ratio of the
- diameters in a system of blood-vessels comes close to the theoretical
- optimum provided by the laws of fluid dynamics (2^-1/3). This, of
- course, only represents a limited, engineering point of view on
- nature. In general, nature performs ADAPTATION, not OPTIMIZATION.
-
- The idea to imitate basic principles of natural processes for optimum
- seeking procedures emerged more than three decades ago (cf Q10, 3.
- Classics). Although these algorithms have proven to be robust and
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- direct optimization tools, it is only in the last five years that
- they have caught the researchers' attention. This is due to the fact
- that many people still look at organic EVOLUTION as a giantsized game
- of dice, thus ignoring the fact that this model of evolution cannot
- have worked: a human germ-cell comprises approximately 50,000 GENEs,
- each of which consists of about 300 triplets of nucleic bases.
- Although the four existing bases only encode 20 different amino
- acids, 20^15,000,000, ie circa 10^19,500,000 different genotypes had
- to be tested in only circa 10^17 seconds, the age of our planet. So,
- simply rolling the dice could not have produced the diversity of
- today's complex living systems.
-
- Accordingly, taking random samples from the high-dimensional
- parameter space of an objective function in order to hit the global
- optimum must fail (Monte-Carlo search). But by looking at organic
- EVOLUTION as a cumulative, highly parallel sieving process, the
- results of which pass on slightly modified into the next sieve, the
- amazing diversity and efficiency on earth no longer appears
- miraculous. When building a model, the point is to isolate the main
- mechanisms which have led to today's world and which have been
- subjected to evolution themselves. Inevitably, nature has come up
- with a mechanism allowing INDIVIDUALs of one SPECIES to exchange
- parts of their genetic information (RECOMBINATION or CROSSOVER), thus
- being able to meet changing environmental conditions in a better way.
-
- Dantzig, G.B. (1966) "Lineare Programmierung und Erweiterungen",
- Berlin: Springer. (Linear pogramming and extensions)
-
- Kursawe, F. (1994) "Evolution strategies: Simple models of natural
- processes?", Revue Internationale de Systemique, France (to appear).
-
- Rosen, R. (1967) "Optimality Principles in Biologie", London:
- Butterworth.
-
- Schwefel, H.-P. (1981) "Numerical Optimization of Computer Models",
- Chichester: Wiley.
-
- A10) Good introductory material on EAs?
- A10.1) Books for absolute beginners?
- Dawkins, R. (1976, 1989 2nd ed) "The Selfish Gene", Oxford: Oxford
- University Press. [The 2nd edition includes the first unaltered and
- adds two new chapters, updated references, and "Endnotes" which
- update the original text. One of the new chapters expands ideas from
- his "Extended Phenotype".]
-
- Dawkins, R. (1982) "The Extended Phenotype: The Gene as a Unit of
- Selection", Oxford: Oxford University Press.
-
- Dawkins, R. (1986) "The Blind Watchmaker", New York: W.W. Norton.
-
-
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- Gonick, L. (1983) "The Cartoon Guide to Computer Science", New York:
- Barnes & Nobel. [eds note: features an interesting chapter on Charles
- Babbage in conjunction with "horse racing forecasting", if you want
- to use EAs to fullfill this task, better read this section first]
-
- Gonick, L. (1983) "The Cartoon Guide to Genetics", New York: Barnes &
- Nobel.
-
- Regis, E. (1987) "Who got Einstein's Office? Eccentricity and Genius
- at the Institute for Advanced Study", Reading, MA: Addison Wesley
- [eds note: chapters 5, 10 and 12]
-
- Levy, S. (1992) "Artificial Life: The Quest for a new Creation", New
- York, NY: Pantheon. [LEVY92] [eds note: read this and you will have
- the urge to work in this field]
-
- Sigmund, K. (1993) "Games of Life: Explorations in Ecology, Evolution
- and Behaviour", Oxford: Univ. Press. 252 pp. Hard/Softcover avail.
-
- A10.2) Textbooks?
- Goldberg, D.E. (1989) "Genetic Algorithms in Search, Optimization,
- and Machine Learning", available from Addison-Wesley Publishing,
- (617) 944-3700. [GOLD89]
-
- Davis, L. (ed) (1991) "Handbook of Genetic Algorithms", available
- from Van Nostrand Reinhold, 115 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10003,
- (800) 926-2665. ISBN 0-442-00173-8.
-
- Michalewicz, Z. (1992) "Genetic algorithms + Data Structures =
- Evolution Programs", Springer-Verlag, 175 5th Avenue, New York, NY,
- 10010, (212) 460-1500.
-
- Koza, J.R. (1992), "Genetic Programming: On the Programming of
- Computers by means of Natural Selection", Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- [KOZA92]
-
- A10.3) The Classics?
- Charles Darwin (1859), "The Origin of Species", London: John Murray.
- (Penguin Classics, London, 1985; New American Library, Mentor
- Paperback)
-
- Box, G.E.P. (1957) "Evolutionary operation: a method of increasing
- industrial productivity", Applied Statistics, 6, 81-101.
-
- Fraser, A.S. (1957) "Simulation of genetic systems by automatic
- digital computers", Australian Journal of Biological Sciences, 10,
- 484-491.
-
- Friedman, G.J. (1959) "Digital simulation of an evolutionary
- process", General Systems Yearbook, 4:171-184.
-
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 4
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- Bremermann, H.J. (1962) "Optimization through evolution and
- recombination". In M.C. Yovits, et al, (eds) Self-Organizing Systems.
- Washington, DC: Spartan Books.
-
- Holland, J.H. (1962) "Outline for a logical theory of adaptive
- systems", JACM, 3, 297-314.
-
- Samuel, A.L. (1963) "Some Studies in Machine Learning using the Game
- of Checkers", in Computers and Thought, E.A. Feigenbaum and J.
- Feldman (eds), New York: McGraw-Hill.
-
- Walter, W.G. (1963) "The Living Brain", New York: W.W. Norton.
-
- Fogel, L.J., Owens, A.J. & Walsh, M.J. (1966) "Artificial
- Intelligence through Simulated Evolution", New York: Wiley.
-
- Rosen, R. (1967) "Optimality Principles in Biology", London:
- Butterworths.
-
- Rechenberg, I. (1973, 1993 2nd edn) "Evolutionsstrategie: Optimierung
- technischer Systeme nach Prinzipien der biologischen Evolution",
- Stuttgart: Fromman-Holzboog. (Evolution Strategy: Optimization of
- technical systems by means of biological evolution)
-
- Holland, J.H. (1975) "Adaptation in natural and artificial systems",
- Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.
-
- De Jong, K.A. (1975) "An analysis of the behavior of a class of
- genetic adaptive systems", Doctoral thesis, Dept. of Computer and
- Communication Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
-
- Schwefel, H.-P. (1977) "Numerische Optimierung von Computer-Modellen
- mittels der Evolutionsstrategie", Basel: Birkhaeuser.
-
- Schwefel, H.-P. (1981) "Numerical Optimization of Computer Models",
- Chichester: Wiley. [eds note: English translation of the previous
- entry; a reworked edition is currently in preparation for 1994]
-
- Axelrod, R. (1984) "The evolution of cooperation", NY: Basic Books.
-
- Cramer, N.L. (1985) "A Representation for the Adaptive Generation of
- Simple Sequential Programs" [ICGA85], 183-187.
-
- Baeck, T., Hoffmeister, F. & Schwefel, H.-P. (1991) "A Survey of
- Evolution Strategies" [ICGA91], 2-9.
-
- Rudolph, G. (1994) "Convergence Analysis of Canonical Genetic
- Algorithms", IEEE Trans. on Neural Networks, Special issue on EP. (to
- appear). [eds note: unfortunately the publisher denies distribution
- of this article, until January '94. I therefore include the abstract
- here: This paper analyzes the convergence properties of the canonical
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 5
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- genetic algorithm (CGA) with mutation, crossover and proportional
- reproduction applied to statistic optimization problems. It is
- proved by means of homogeneous finite Markov chain analysis that a
- CGA will never converge to the global optimum regardless of the
- initialization, crossover operator and objective function. But
- variants of CGAs that always maintain the best solution in the
- population, either before or after selection, are shown to converge
- to the global optimum due to the irreducibility property of the
- underlying orginal nonconvergent CGA. The results are discussed with
- respect to the schema theorem.]
-
- A10.4) Introductory Journal Articles?
- Goldberg, D.E. (1986) "The Genetic Algorithm: Who, How, and What
- Next?". In Kumpati S. Narenda, ed., Adaptive and Learning Systems,
- Plenum, New York, NY.
-
- Dawkins, R. (1987) "The Evolution of Evolvability", [ALIFEI],
- 201-220.
-
- Hillis, W.D. (1987) "The Connection Machine", Scientific American,
- 255(6).
-
- Holland, J.H. (1989) "Using Classifier Systems to Study Adaptive
- Nonlinear Networks". In: Lectures in the Science of Complexity, SFI
- Studies in the Science of Complexity, D. Stein, (ed), Addison Wesley.
-
- Brooks, R.A. (1991) "Intelligence without Reason", MIT AI Memo No.
- 1293. Appeared in "Computer's and Thought", IJCAI-91.
-
- Hillis, W.D. (1992) "Massively Parallel Computing" Daedalus, winter,
- 121(1), 1-29. [HILLIS92]
-
- Holland, J.H. (1992) "Genetic Algorithms", Scientific American,
- 260(9), 44-51. [HOLLAND92]
-
- Holland, J.H. (1992) "Complex Adaptive Systems" Daedalus, winter,
- 121(1), 17-30.
-
- Sims, K. (1991) "Artificial Evolution for Computer Graphics",
- Computer Graphics, 25(4), 319-328
-
- Spears, W.M., DeJong, K.A., Baeck, T., Fogel, D. & de Garis, H.
- (1993) "An Overview of Evolutionary Computation", [ECML93], 442-459.
-
- Baeck, T. & Schwefel, H.-P. (1993) "An Overview of Evolutionary
- Algorithms for Parameter Optimization", Evolutionary Computation,
- 1(1), 1-23.
-
- Baeck, T., Rudolph, G. & Schwefel, H.-P. (1993) "Evolutionary
- Programming and Evolution Strategies: Similarities and Differences",
- [EP93], 11-22.
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 6
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- Mitchell, M. & Forrest S. (1993) "Genetic Algorithms and Artificial
- Life", Artificial Life, 1(1), (to appear). Also avail. as SFI Working
- Paper 31-11-072.
-
- A10.5) Introductory Technical Reports?
- Hoffmeister, F. & Baeck, T. (1990, 1992) "Genetic Algorithms and
- Evolution Strategies: Similarities and Differences", University of
- Dortmund, Dept. of CS, SyS-1/92. Available via anon. ftp from
- lumpi.informatik.uni-dortmund.de.
-
- Whitley, D. (1993) "A Genetic Algorithm Tutorial", Colorado State
- University, Dept. of CS, TR CS-93-103. Available via anon. ftp from
- beethoven.cs.colostate.edu.
-
- A10.6) Not-quite-so-introductory Literature?
- Bock, P. (1993) "The Emergence of Artificial Cognition: An
- Introduction to Collective Learning", Singapore: World Scientific.
-
- Davis, L. (ed) (1987) "Genetic Algorithms and Simulated Annealing",
- available from Morgan Kaufmann Publishers (address and phone number
- below).
-
- Davidor, Y. (1991) "Genetic Algorithms and Robotics", Singapore:
- World Scientific. ISBN 9-810202172.
-
- Forrest, S. (ed) (1990) "Emergent Computation. Self-Organizing,
- Collective, and Cooperative Phenomena in Natural and Artificial
- Computing Networks", [FORREST90], Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (Special
- issue of Physica D.)
-
- Hillis, W.D. (1990) "Co-Evolving Parasites Improve Simulated
- Evolution as an Optimization procedure", [ALIFEII], 313-324.
-
- Holland, J.H., Holyoak, K.J., Nisbett, R.E. & Thagard, P.R. (1986)
- "Induction: Processes of Inference, Learning, and Discovery",
- Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
-
- Holland, J.H. (1992) "Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems:
- An Introductory Analysis with Applications to Biology, Control, and
- Artificial Intelligence, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press/Bradford Books,
- (2nd edn). Hard: ISBN 0-262-08213-6. Soft: ISBN 0-262-58111-6.
-
- Serra, R. & Zanarini, G. (1990) "Complex Systems and Cognitive
- Processes", New York, NY: Springer-Verlag.
-
- Rujan, P. (1988) "Searching for optimal configurations by simulated
- tunneling", Zeitschrift der Physik B", Vol.73, 391-416.
-
- A10.7) Biological Background Readings?
- Adams, D. with Carwardine M. (1990) "Last Chance to see...", London:
- Heinemann. [David Corne: you don't, in the FAQ, reference his
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 7
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- (Adams') recent book "Last Chance to See". I strongly suggest you
- read it if you haven't; it's not another book in the Hitchhiker
- trilogy, or anything like that, but a report on visits to various
- parts of the world to see endangered species. It is, nevertheless,
- remarkably and wonderfully funny and illuminating. It would actually
- be a good reference to have in any bit of the FAQ to do with genetic
- diversity and/or the lack of it, or the remarkable kinds of
- adaptations that can occur for the strangest reasons.
-
- There's this weird New Zealand parrot-like bird called the Kakapo,
- for example, which has almost disappeared. It used to be quite
- abundant, so abundant, in fact, that it evolved weird ways to keep
- it's population down. Kakapo males call females with a strange very
- low booming sound, about once every three years, and only when a
- certain kind of tree is in fruit. A further obstacle to their getting
- together is the daft fact that since the mating call is at such a low
- frequency, the poor female just can't tell what direction it is
- coming from.]
-
- Cairns-Smith, A.G. (1985) "Seven Clues to the Origin of Life",
- Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
-
- Fisher, R.A. (1958) "The Genetic Theory of Natural Selection", New
- York: Dover.
-
- Lewontin, R.C. (1974) "The Genetic Basis of Evolutionary Change", New
- York: Columbia Univ. Press.
-
- Maynard Smith, J. (1972) "On Evolution", Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univ.
- Press.
-
- Maynard Smith, J. (1978) "Optimization Theory in Evolution", Annual
- Review of Ecology and Systematics 9:31-56.
-
- Maynard Smith, J. (1982) "Evolution and the Theory of Games",
- Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
-
- Maynard Smith, J. (1989) "The Problems of Biology", Oxford: Oxford
- Univ. Press.
-
- Futuyma, D.J. (1986) "Evolutionary Biology", Sunderland, MA: Sinauer
- Assoc. [eds note: the bibliography of this book is truly a treasure
- chest]
-
- Maynard Smith, J. (1989) "Evolutionary Genetics", Oxford: Oxford
- Univ. Press.
-
- Mayr, E. (1963) "Animal Species and Evolution", Cambridge, MA:
- Harvard Univ. Press.
-
-
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 8
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- Mayr, E. (1982) "The Groth of Biological Thought", Cambridge, MA: The
- Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press.
-
- Ridley, M. (1985) "The Problems of Evolution", Oxford: Oxford Univ.
- Press.
-
- Watson, J.D. (1966) "Molecular Biology of the Gene", Menlo Park:
- Benjamin.
-
- Watson, J.D., Hopkins, N.H., Roberts, J.W., Steitz, J.A. & Weiner,
- A.M. (1987) "Molecular Biology of the Gene (4th edn)", Menlo Park:
- Benjamin.
-
- Williams, G.C. (1966) "Adaptation and Natural Selection", Princeton,
- NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
-
- Wright, S. (1932) "The roles of mutation, inbreeding, crossbreeding
- and selection in evolution", in: Proc. of the 6th Int'l Congress on
- Genetics I, 356.
-
- A10.8) Electronic Bibliography Collections?
- A bibliography of over 400 entries in the area of Evolutionary
- Computation (GA/ES/EP/GP) is now available (in BibTeX and PostScript
- formats) by anonymous FTP from:
-
- magenta.me.fau.edu:/pub/ep-list/bib/EC-ref.bib.Z (BibTeX)
- magenta.me.fau.edu:/pub/ep-list/bib/EC-ref.ps.Z (PostScript)
-
- The above files are compressed. Please make sure you use "binary"
- mode when you transfer these files. Please send any additions and
- corrections to <saravan@amber.me.fau.edu> or <EP-
- List@magenta.me.fau.edu>.
-
- A10.9) Videos?
- Sims, K. (1990) "Panspermia", ACM Sigraph Review. order form
- available by ftp see:
- siggraph.org:/publications/video_review/order_blank Look in that
- directory for other useful information. Note that "Panspermia" is
- Item 23 of Issue 62 of the "SIGGRAPH Video Review".
-
- Langton, C.G. (ed) (1992) "Artificial Life II Video Proceedings" The
- Advanced Book Program of the Santa Fe Institute: Studies in the
- Sciences of Complexity, Addison Wesley, ISBN 0-201-55492-5.
-
- Koza, J.R. & Rice, J.P. (1992) "Genetic Programming: The Movie",
- Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (see GP-faq for an order form, cf Q15)
-
- The Santa Fe Institute has produced a thirteen minute promotional
- video, which includes a roughly five minute segment discussing the
- Tierra research project. The Tierra segment is illustrated with a
- very high quality animation produced by the Anti Gravity Workshop in
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 9
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- Santa Monica, CA. The video was produced and directed by Linda
- Feferman. To obtain the video, contact the Santa Fe Institute:
-
- Santa Fe Institute
- 1660 Old Pecos Trail, Suite A
- Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
- Tel: 505-984-8800
- Fax: 505-982-0565
- Net: <email@santafe.edu>
- or contact Linda Feferman: <fef@santafe.edu> or
- <0005851689@mcimail.com>
-
-
- A10.10) CD-ROMs?
- PTF for AI by CMU
- Carnegie Mellon University is establishing an Artificial Intelligence
- Repository to contain public domain and freely distributable
- software, publications, and other materials of interest to AI
- researchers, educators, and students. The AI Repository will be
- accessible by anonymous FTP and Andrew File System (AFS) without
- charge. The contents of the repository will also be published by
- Prime Time Freeware as an inexpensive mixed-media (Book/CD-ROM)
- publication.
-
- For your information, here is a precis of the CD-ROM:
-
- PTF for AI is a periodic collection of AI-related source code and
- documentation. PTF for AI in no way modifies the legal restrictions
- on any package it includes. The upcoming issue (1-1; Summer, 1993)
- will consist of an ISO-9660 CD-ROM bound into a ~100 page book. It
- will contain ~600 MB of gzipped archives (2+ GB uncompressed and
- unpacked). It will sell (list) for $60 US.
-
- For more information contact: Mark Kantrowitz, Archivist, CMU AI
- Repository, Editor, PTF for AI. Net: <mkant+repository@cs.cmu.edu>,
- Tel: +1 412-268-2582, Fax: +1 412-681-5739.
-
- AI CD-ROM by NCC
- Network Cybernetics Corporation is now shipping the second annual
- revision of their popular AI CD-ROM, an ISO-9660 format CD-ROM
- containing a wide assortment of information on AI, Robotics, and
- other advanced machine technologies. The AI CD-ROM contains thousands
- of programs, source code collections, tutorials, research papers,
- Internet journals, and other resources. The topics covered include
- artificial intelligence, artificial life, robotics, virtual reality,
- and many related fields. Programs for OS/2, DOS, Macintosh, UNIX,
- Amiga, and other platforms can be found on the disc. The files have
- been collected from civilian and government research centers,
- universities, Internet archive sites, BBS systems and other sources.
- The CD-ROM is updated annually to keep it current with the latest
- trends and developments in advanced machine technologies such as AI.
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 10
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- The AI CD-ROM Rev. 1 was a CD-ROM PROFESSIONAL CONSUMER DISK PRODUCT
- OF THE YEAR AWARD finalist and has received good reviews in many
- magazines including Byte (Jerry Pournelle, March '93) and IEEE
- Computer (J. Zalewski, July '93), CD-ROM Professional and others.
-
- For people wanting to see a complete listing of the CD's contents,
- look for the file AICDROM2.ZIP at an ftp site near you. The file is
- also available from the Compuserve AI forum, and the NCC dial-up BBS
- at 214-258-1832. It contains the file listing, this press release, a
- couple of magazine reviews of the disc, and other assorted
- information. Oh, and one last note regarding pricing - customers have
- told us that Programmer's Pardise seems to have the best pricing in
- the US on the disc...
-
- Direct inquiries to:
-
- Network Cybernetics Corporation
- 4201 Wingren Road, Suite 202
- Irving, TX 75062-2763, USA
-
- Fax: 214-650-1929
- Net: <orders@ncc.com>
-
-
- A10.11) How do I get a copy of a dissertation?
- All US American dissertations are avail. from:
-
- UMI Dissertation Information Service
- University Microfilms International
- A Bell & Howell Information Company
- 300 N. Zeeb Road
- Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106, USA
- Tel.: 800-521-0600, or +1 (313) 761-4700
-
-
- A11) Any journals and magazines?
- [eds note: comments on speed of reviewing and publishing, whether
- they accept LaTeX/TeX format or ASCII by e-mail, etc. may be added]
-
- 1. Dedicated EC Journals:
- Evolutionary Computation
- Published quarterly by: MIT Press Jornals, 55 Hayward Street,
- Cambridge, MA 02142-1399, USA. Tel: (617) 253-2889, Fax: (617)
- 258-6779, Net: <journals-orders@mit.edu>
-
- Along with the explosive growth of the computing industry has come
- the need to design systems capable of functioning in complex,
- changing ENVIRONMENTs. Considerable effort is underway to explore
- alternative approaches to designing more robust computer systems
- capable of learning from and adapting to the environment in which
- they operate.
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 11
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- One broad class of such techniques takes its inspiration from natural
- systems with particular emphasis on evolutionary models of
- computation such as GAs, ESS. CFS, and EP. Until now, information on
- these techniques has been widely spread over numerous disciplines,
- conferences, and journals. [eds note: The editorial board reads like
- a who-is-who in EC.] For paper e-mail submission, use one of the
- following addresses:
-
- America: John Grefenstette <gref@aic.nrl.navy.mil>
- Europe: Heinz Muehlenbein <heinz.muehlenbein@gmd.de>
- Asia: Hiroaki Kitano <kitano@spls26.ccs.mt.nec.co.jp>
-
- Ed-in-chief: Ken De Jong <kdejong@aic.gmu.edu>
-
- Please note, that submissions should be sent to one of the sub-
- editors. Grefenstette and Kitano accept LaTeX or PostScript
- submissions.
-
- BioSystems
- Journal of Biological and Information Processing Sciences, Elsevier
- Science Publishers, P.O. Box 1527, 1000 BM Amsterdam, The
- Netherlands.
-
- BioSystems encourages experimental, computational, and theoretical
- articles that link biology, evolutionary thinking, and the
- information processing sciences. The link areas form a circle that
- encompasses the fundamental nature of biological information
- processing, computational modeling of complex biological systems,
- evolutionary models of computation, the application of biological
- principles to the design of novel computing systems, and the use of
- biomolecular materials to synthesize artificial systems that capture
- essential principles of natural biological information processing.
-
- Topics: MOLECULAR EVOLUTION: Self-organizing and self-replicating
- systems, Origin and EVOLUTION of the genetic mechanism; BIOLOGICAL
- INFORMATION PROCESSING: Molecular recognition, Cellular control,
- Neuromuscular computing, Biological adaptability, Molecular computing
- technologies; EVOLUTIONARY SYSTEMS: Stochastic evolutionary
- algorithms, Evolutionary optimization, Simulation of genetic and
- ecological systems, Applications (neural nets, machine learning,
- robotics))
-
- 2. Related Journals:
- Complex Systems
- Published by: Complex Systems Publications, Inc., P.O. Box 6149,
- Champaign, IL 61821-8149, USA.
-
- Complex Systems devotes to the rapid publication of research on the
- science, mathematics, and engineering of systems with simple
- components but complex overall behavior. Try finger(1) on
- <jcs@wri.com> for additional info.
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 12
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- Machine Learning
- Published by: Kluwer Academic Publishers, P.O. Box 358, Accord
- Station, Hingham, MA 02018-0358 USA.
-
- Machine Learning is an international forum for research on
- computational approaches to learning. The journal publishes articles
- reporting substantive research results on a wide range of learning
- methods applied to a variety of task domains. The ideal paper will
- make a theoretical contribution supported by a computer
- implementation.
-
- The journal has published many key papers in learning theory,
- reinforcement learning, and decision tree methods. The journal
- regularly publishes special issues devoted to GAs and CFS as well.
-
- Adaptive Behavior
- Published quarterly by: MIT Press Jornals, 55 Hayward Street,
- Cambridge, MA 02142-1399, USA. Tel: (617) 253-2889, Fax: (617)
- 258-6779, Net: <journals-orders@mit.edu>
-
- Broadly, behavior is adaptive if it deals successfully with changes
- circumstances. For example, when surprised, a hungry --but
- environmentally informed-- mouse may dart for cover rather than
- another piece of cheese. Similarly, a tripped-up ROBOT [eds note: not
- necessarily built by Sirius Cybernetics Corp.] could get back on its
- feet and accomplish a moonrock-finding mission if it had learned to
- cope with unanticipated lunar potholes.
-
- Adaptive Behavior thus takes an approach complementary to traditional
- AI. Now basic abilities that allow animals to survive, or ROBOTs to
- perform their mission in unpredictable ENVIRONMENTs, will be studied
- in preference to more elaborate and human-specific abilities.
-
- The journal also aims to investigate which new insights into
- intelligence and cognition can be achieved by explicitly taking into
- account the ENVIRONMENT feedback --mediated by behavior-- that an
- animal or a ROBOT receives, instead of studying components of
- intelligence in isolation.
-
- Topics: INDIVIDUAL and Collective Behavior. Neural Correlates of
- Behavior. Perception and Motor Control. Motivation and Emotion.
- Action Selection and Behavioral Sequences. Internal World Models.
- Ontogeny, Learning, and EVOLUTION. Characterization of ENVIRONMENTs.
-
- Artificial Life
- Published quarterly by: MIT Press Jornals, 55 Hayward Street,
- Cambridge, MA 02142-1399, USA. Tel: (617) 253-2889, Fax: (617)
- 258-6779, Net: <journals-orders@mit.edu>
-
- Artificial Life is intended to be the primary forum for the
- dissemination of scientific and engineering research in the field of
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 13
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- ARTIFICIAL LIFE. It will report on synthetic biological work being
- carried out in any and all media, from the familiar "wetware" of
- organic chemistry, through the inorganic "hardware" of mobile ROBOTs,
- all the way to the virtual "software" residing inside computers.
-
- Research topics ranging from the fabrication of self-replicating
- molecules to the study of evolving POPULATIONs of computer programs
- will be included.
-
- There will also be occasional issues devoted to special topics, such
- as L-Systems, GENETIC ALGORITHMs, in-vitro EVOLUTION of molecules,
- artificial cells, computer viruses, and many social and philosophical
- issues arising from the attempt to synthesize life artificially.
-
- [eds note: The editorial board reads like a who-is-who in Alife]
-
- Evolutionary Economics
- Published quarterly by: Springer-Verlag New York, Inc., Service
- Center Secaucus, 44 Hartz Way, Secaucus, NJ 07094, USA. Tel: (201)
- 348-4033, Fax: (201) 348-4505.
-
- Evolutionary Economics aims to provide an international forum for a
- new approach to economics. Following the tradition of Joseph A.
- Schlumpeter, it is designed to focus on original research with an
- evolutionary conception of the economy. The journal will publish
- articles with strong emphasis on dynamics, changing structures
- (including technologies, institutions, beliefs, imitation, etc.). It
- favors interdisciplinary analysis and is devoted to theoretical,
- methodological and applied work.
-
- Research areas include: industrial dynamics; multi-sectoral and
- cross-country studies of productivity; innovations and new
- technologies; dynamic competition and structural change in a national
- and international context; causes and effects of technological,
- political and social changes; cyclic processes in economic EVOLUTION;
- the role of governments in a dynamic world; modeling complex dynamic
- economic systems; application of concepts, such as self-organization,
- bifurcation, and chaos theory to economics; evolutionary games.
-
-
-
- A12) Important conferences on EC? Proceedings?
- 1. Dedicated EC Conferences:
- ICGA: Int'l Conference on Genetic Algorithms
- Major international conference held in North America in odd-numbered
- years. Covers all aspects of EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTATION. The 1995
- conference will be held in [..], on [..] For details contact [..]
-
- Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Genetic Algorithms
- (1985) J.J. Grefenstette (ed) [ICGA85] and Proc. of the 2nd Int'l
- Conf. on Genetic Algorithms (1987) J.J. Grefenstette (ed) [ICGA87]
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 14
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- available from Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 365 Broadway,
- Hillsdale, New Jersey, 07642, (800) 926-6579.
-
- Proc. of the 3rd Int'l Conf. on Genetic Algorithms (1989) J.D.
- Schaffer (ed) [ICGA89] and Proc. of the 4th Int'l Conf. on Genetic
- Algorithms (1991) R.K. Belew and L.B. Booker (eds) [ICGA91] and Proc.
- of the 5th Int'l Conf. on Genetic Algorithms (1993) S. Forrest (ed)
- [ICGA93] available from Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box
- 50490, Palo Alto, CA, 94303-9953, (415) 578-9911. Net:
- <morgan@unix.sri.com>
-
- FOGA: Foundations of Genetic Algorithms
- Major international workshop focusing on theoretical aspects of EC,
- that's usually limited to some 50 participants and is held somewhere
- in North America.
-
- FOGA 3 will take place from July 30 to August 3 in 1994, in Estes
- Park, outside Rocky Mountain National Park. Paper submission and
- inquires to: Darrell Whitley, Dept. of CS, Colorado State University,
- Fort Collins, CO 80523. Net: <whitley@cs.colostate.edu>
-
- Foundations of Genetic Algorithms (1991) G.J.E. Rawlins (ed) [FOGA91]
- and Foundations of Genetic Algorithms 2 (1993) L.D. Whitley [FOGA93]
- available from Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 50490, Palo
- Alto, CA, 94303-9953, (415) 578-9911. Net: <morgan@unix.sri.com>
-
- PPSN: Parallel Problem Solving from Nature
- Major international conference held in Europe in even-numbered years.
- Covers all aspects of problem solving inspired by natural processes.
- The 1994 conference will be held in Israel in a Kibbuz close to
- Jerusalem, October 9-14. For details contact Yuval Davidor
- <yuval@weizmann.ac.il>.
-
- Parallel Problem Solving from Nature, (1990) H.-P. Schwefel and R.
- Maenner (eds) [PPSN90] published by Springer-Verlag, 175 5th Avenue,
- New York, NY, 10010, (212) 460-1500. Parallel Problem Solving from
- Nature 2, (1992) R. Maenner and B. Manderick (eds) [PPSN92] published
- by North-Holland, Elsevier Science Publishers, Sara Burgerhartstraat
- 25, P.O. Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Parallel
- Problem Solving from Nature 3, (1994) Y. Davidor, [PPSN94] (to be
- published)
-
- EP: Annual Conference on Evolutionary Programming
- Major international annual conference held in San Diego, CA, USA.
- Covers all aspects of EC with emphasis on EP related research. The
- 1994 conference will be held in San Diego, in February 24-25. For
- details contact David Fogel <fogel@sunshine.ucsd.edu>.
-
- Proceedings of the 1st Annual Conference on Evolutionary Programming,
- (1992) D.B. Fogel and W. Atmar (eds), [EP92], and Proc. of the 2nd
- Annual Conf. on Evolutionary Programming, (1993) D.B. Fogel and W.
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 15
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- Atmar (eds), [EP93] published by the Evolutionary Programming
- Society, 9363 Towne Centre Dr., San Diego, CA 92121, Attn: Bill
- Porto, Treasurer. (cf Q13)
-
- 2. Related Conferences:
- Alife: International Conference on Artificial Life
- Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Artificial Life,
- (1989) C.G. Langton (ed), Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences
- of Complexity, Proc. Vol. VI, [ALIFEI] and Proc. of the 2nd Int'l
- Conf. on Artificial Life II, (1992) C.G. Langton, C. Taylor, J. Doyne
- Farmer and S. Rasmussen (eds), Santa Fe Institute Studies in the
- Sciences of Complexity, Proc. Vol. X, [ALIFEII] and Proc. of the 3rd
- Int'l Conf. on Artificial Life III, (1993) C.G. Langton (ed),
- [ALIFEIII] published by Addison Wesley, Redwood City, CA, USA.
-
- Artificial Life IV, will be organized by Rodney Brooks, MIT AI Lab,
- and held at July 6-8, 1994. Proceedings will be edited by R. Brooks
- and P. Maes. Papers should be send to: Rodney Brooks/Alife IV, MIT AI
- Lab, 545 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Or by e-mail
- to: <alife@ai.mit.edu>.
-
- ECAL: European Conference on Artificial Life
- Proceedings of the 1st European Conference on Artificial Life, (1991)
- F.J. Varela and P. Bourgine (eds), [ECAL91] and Proc. of the 2nd
- European Conf. on Alife: Self-organization and life, from simple
- rules to global complexity, (1993) [..] (eds), [ECAL93] (to appear)
- published by MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA.
-
- ECML: European Conference on Machine Learning
- Machine Learning: ECML-93, Proc. European Conf. on Machine Learning,
- (1993) P.B. Brazil (ed), [ECML93] published by Springer, New York,
- NY, USA.
-
- SAB: International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior
- From Animals to Animats. Proceedings of the 1st International
- Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, (1991) [SAB90] J.-A.
- Meyer and S.W. Wilson, ISBN 0-262-63138-5, and Proc. of the 2nd Int'l
- Conf. on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, (1993) [SAB92], J.-A.
- Meyer, H. Roitblat and S.W. Wilson (eds) and Proc. of the 3rd Int'l
- Conf. on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, (to appear) [SAB94], P.
- Husbands, J.-A. Meyer and S.W. Wilson (eds) published by MIT Press,
- Cambridge, MA, USA.
-
- SAB94 will take place on August 8-12, 1994 in Brighton, UK. Send
- general queries to: <sab94@cogs.susx.ac.uk>
-
- 3. Pointers to upcoming Conferences:
- The Genetic Algorithm Digest
- Aka "GA-Digest" always starts with a "Calendar of GA-related Events,"
- i.e. a list of upcoming conferences, covering the complete field of
- EAs. (cf Q15)
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 16
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- The Artificial Life Digest
- Aka "Alife digest" always starts with a "Calendar of Alife-related
- Events," that lists conferences, workshops, etc. (cf Q15)
-
- The Evolutionary Programming Digest
- Aka "EP-digest" doesn't list conferences explicitly, like the
- previously mentioned ones, but carries most CFP's; that can be looked
- at in the backissues folder as: "magenta.me.fau.edu:/pub/ep-
- list/digest/vX.YYY.Z" (cf Q15)
-
-
- A13) Evolutionary Computation Associations?
- ISGA: International Society on Genetic Algorithms
- The ISGA is a mostly fascinating society: it neither has a
- membership fee (which makes it even more fascinating), nor an
- address. However, ISGA meetings usually take place during ICGA
- conferences, in so-called business meetings (BMs). [eds note: So
- during a conference, ask for BMs, if you want to join; or be ready to
- dart out of the room if you don't...]
-
- EPS: Evolutionary Programming Society
- Membership is $40/year ($10/year for students with id) and also gives
- you a discounted registration at the annual conference. You can also
- order EP proceedings ($30/members, $45/other) from EPS.
-
- Address: Evolutionary Programming Society, 9363 Towne Centre Dr., San
- Diego, CA 92121, Attn: Bill Porto, Treasurer.
-
-
- A14) Available technical reports?
- TCGA Reports
- The Clearing House for GENETIC ALGORITHMs (TCGA) distributes TCGA
- technical reports.
-
- Contact: Robert Elliott Smith, Department of Engineering of
- Mechanics, Room 210 Hardaway Hall, The University of Alabama, P.O.
- Box 870278, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA. Tel: (205) 348-1618, Fax:
- (205) 348-6419, Net: <rob@comec4.mh.ua.edu>.
-
- IlliGAL Reports
- The Illinois GENETIC ALGORITHMs Laboratory (IlliGAL) distributes
- IlliGAL technical reports, as well as reprints of other publications;
- they are available in hardcopy and can be ordered from the IlliGAL
- librarian.
-
- Contact: Eric Thompson, IlliGAL Librarian, Department of General
- Engineering, 117 Transportation Building, 104 South Mathews Avenue,
- Urbana, IL 61801-2996, USA. Tel: (217) 333-2346, Net:
- <library@gal1.ge.uiuc.edu>.
-
-
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 17
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- NOTE: When ordering, please include your surface mail address!
-
- IlliGAL just entered the Internet Age with an anonymous-FTP server,
- making most of the existing IlliGAL reports, and all future ones,
- available in electronic form from host: gal4.ge.uiuc.edu in directory
- "/pub/papers/IlliGALs".
-
- SyS Reports
- The Systems Analysis Research Group (SyS) at the University of
- Dortmund, maintains an experimental anonymous ftp server:
- lumpi.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (129.217.36.140). Please give your
- complete e-mail address as password. On lumpi you can find SyS-
- Reports from 1992 on. (Get "/pub/ls-Ral.Z" and look for "papers"
- folders, the server is sorted by EA paradigms, i.e. "/pub/GA/papers"
- contains papers related to GAs, etc.). A strongly recommended, and
- quarterly updated, report is a list of current applications of GAs,
- EP and ESs; get "/pub/EA/papers/ea-app.ps.gz" (SyS-2/92).
-
- Bionics Reports
- The Bionics and Evolution Techniques Laboratory at the Technical
- University of Berlin maintains an anonymous ftp server: ftp-
- bionik.fb10.tu-berlin.de (130.149.192.50). On ftp-bionik you find
- reports and software, related to Evolutionary Algorithms and
- Artificial Neural Networks.
-
-
- A15) Other sources of information?
- A15.1) Electronic Digests?
- Genetic Algorithm Digest
- The GA research community exchanges news, CFP's, etc. through this
- digest, currently moderated by Connie Ramsey and formerly by Alan C.
- Schultz, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375-5000, USA.
-
- A recently published statistic (v7,i3) states that GA-digest is sent
- out to world-wide 1800 addresses in 28 countries.
-
- o Send submissions to <ga-list@aic.nrl.navy.mil>
-
- o Send administrative requests to <ga-list-REQUEST@aic.nrl.navy.mil>
-
- o Anonymous ftp archive: ftp.aic.nrl.navy.mil (Info in
- "/pub/galist/FTP")
-
- o Conference announcements "/pub/galist/information/conferences"
-
- Artificial Life Digest
- The ALIFE research community exchanges news, CFP's, etc. through this
- digest, edited by Liane Gabora and Rob Collins of the Artificial Life
- Research Group at UCLA.
-
- o Send submissions to <alife@cognet.ucla.edu>
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 18
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- o Send administrative requests to <alife-REQUEST@cognet.ucla.edu>
-
- o Anonymous ftp archive: ftp.cognet.ucla.edu (128.97.50.19) in
- "~ftp/pub/alife"
-
- Evolutionary Programming Digest
- The digest is intended to promote discussions on a wide range of
- technical issues in evolutionary optimization, as well as provide
- information on upcoming conferences, events, journals, special
- issues, and other items of interest to the EP community. Discussions
- on all areas of EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTATION are welcomed, including
- ARTIFICIAL LIFE, EVOLUTION STRATEGIEs, and GENETIC ALGORITHMs. The
- digest is meant to encourage interdisciplinary communications. Your
- suggestions and comments regarding the digest are always welcome.
-
- o Send administrative requests to <ep-list-
- REQUEST@magenta.me.fau.edu>
-
- To subscribe to the digest, send mail to <ep-list-
- REQUEST@magenta.me.fau.edu> and include the line "subscribe ep-list"
- in the body of the text. Further instructions will follow your
- subscription. The digest is moderated by N. Saravan of Florida
- Atlantic University.
-
- A15.2) Electronic Mailing Lists?
- Genetic Programming Mailing List
- The GP community uses this list as a discussion forum, news exchange
- and FAQ distribution channel, edited by John Koza and James Rice at
- Stanford.
-
- o Send submissions to <genetic-programming@cs.stanford.edu>
-
- o Send administrative requests to <genetic-programming-
- REQUEST@cs.stanford.edu>
-
- o Anonymous ftp archive: ftp.cc.utexas.edu in "pub/genetic-
- programming"
-
- o Contains a lengthy, but "mostly interesting" FAQ by James Rice on
- GP related subjects.
-
- Tierra Mailing List
- Thomas Ray's Tierra is discussed elsewhere (cf Q4.1); here's how to
- obtain Tierra electronically and get in contact with other users.
-
- o Send submissions to <tierra-ANNOUNCE@life.slhs.udel.edu>
-
- o Send administrative requests to <tierra-
- REQUEST@life.slhs.udel.edu>
-
- o Anonymous ftp archive: tierra.slhs.udel.edu (tierra, almond,
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 19
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- beagle, etc.)
-
- GA-Molecule mailing list
- o Send submissions to <GA-MOLECULE@TAMMY.HARVARD.EDU>
-
- o All administrative details are available from <GA-MOLECULE-
- REQUEST@TAMMY.HARVARD.EDU>
-
- UK's Evolutionary-Computation mailing list
- o Send submissions to <EVOLUTIONARY-COMPUTING@MAILBASE.AC.UK>
-
- o All administrative details are available from <EVOLUTIONARY-
- COMPUTING-REQUEST@MAILBASE.AC.UK>
-
- A15.3) Electronic Access to Research Institutes?
- The Santa Fe Institute
- The Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity (SFI)
- issues a recommended series: SFI Studies in the Science of
- Complexity, published by Addison Wesley and maintains a well-sorted
- ftp server with EC related material.
-
- o Send administrative requests to <ftp@santafe.edu>
-
- o Anonymous ftp archive: ftp.santafe.edu in "/pub"
-
- For example, SAFIER, the SAnta Fe Institute's Evolutionary
- computation Repository, is avail. under "/pub/EC". You should get
- "The Navigator's Guide to SAFIER", a handbook to this service:
-
- o ftp.santafe.edu:/pub/EC/handbook/safier.ps.gz (A4 paper) and
-
- o ftp.santafe.edu:/pub/EC/handbook/safier-US.ps.gz (US letter size
- paper).
-
- Additionally, you can telnet bbs.santafe.edu and login as "bbs" to
- get access to the Santa Fe Institute's bulletin board system. It's
- administrator Scott D. Yelich <scott@santafe.edu> is actively seeking
- information on any complex system information for the BBS. This
- includes CAs, GAs, ALIFE or almost anything else related to this
- field. You will also find infos on SUMMERSCHOOLs held by the SFI.
-
- The Australian National University (ANU)
- The Bioinformatics facility at Australian National University has set
- up an anonymous ftp server, that contains EC related material,
- maintained by David G. Green.
-
- o Send administrative requests to David G. Green
- <david.green@anu.edu.au>
-
- o Anonymous ftp archive: life.anu.edu.au:/pub/complex_systems/alife
-
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 20
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- o Gopher protocol: Besides direct access to all FTP information, the
- gopher server offers online access to relevant newsgroups, online
- databases and direct links to relevant international services.
-
- Name=Complex systems
- Host=life.anu.edu.au
- Type=1
- Port=70
- Path=1/complex_systems
-
- o World Wide Web protocol: Besides access to all of the above, the
- hypermedia server offers introductory tutorials, preprints and
- papers online. The URL for this service is
- "http://life.anu.edu.au/complex_systems/complex.html" or link via
- the servers home page "http://life.anu.edu.au/".
-
- A15.4) Relevant Electronic News and FAQs?
- Besides the obvious comp.ai.genetic, there exist some other
- newsgroups that sometimes carry EC related topics:
-
- o comp.ai (FAQ in news.answers, comp.answers)
-
- o comp.ai.fuzzy (FAQ in news.answers, comp.answers)
-
- o comp.ai.jair.announce (FAQ in news.answers, comp.answers)
-
- o comp.ai.jair.papers (PostScript papers of the Journal of AI
- Research, published by Morgan Kaufmann <morgan@unix.sri.com>) [eds
- note: this is the first journal that's completely published on
- USENET first, and later in paper form; read the jair-faq, that's
- posted to the announcement group to find out how to submit your
- papers, get JAIR papers by FTP, Gopher or e-mail, etc.]
-
- o comp.ai.neural-nets (FAQ in news.answers, comp.answers)
-
- o comp.robotics (FAQ in news.answers, comp.answers)
-
- o comp.theory.cell-automata (no FAQ)
-
- o comp.theory.dynamic-sys (no FAQ)
-
- o comp.theory.self-org-sys (no FAQ)
-
- o sci.math.num-analysis (some FAQs in news.answers, sci.answers)
-
- o sci.op-research (some FAQs in news.answers, sci.answers)
-
-
- A15.5) What about all these Internet Services?
- The better part of the following explanations have been adapted with
- kind permission from version 1.6 of Smith (1993).
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 21
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- Access Tools
- All Internet tools share the quirk that they are actually three
- things: a "server" or "daemon" program that runs all the time on a
- host computer and accepts requests to connect over the Internet, a
- "client" program that people use to connect to or access these
- servers, and a standard protocol that allows many different versions
- of clients and servers to talk to one another without difficulty.
-
- Most of the recently published books about the Internet describe
- these tools in detail. Kehoe (1992), the first to appear, was
- offered first in a free electronic version over the Internet; it is
- still available from many anonymous FTP archives around the world, in
- a directory named something like pub/zen/. Krol (1992) has received
- excellent reviews. See the references for other books.
-
- A new item: the EARN Association has published a Guide to Network
- Resource Tools (May 3, 1993), which is available via e-mail from
- <listserv@EARNCC.bitnet>, by sending the message "get nettools ps"
- for a PostScript version or "get nettools memo" for a plain text
- version. The guide covers almost every tool mentioned here,
- including example.
-
- A few host computers mentioned in this guide allow the public to
- telnet to the host, and then use the host computer to access servers
- via gopher, WAIS or the Web. These arrangements are offered as a
- courtesy to those people who do not have the necessary client
- software on their own computers, and want to try these tools before
- going to the trouble of installing the client software themselves.
- Although licensing has been discussed for some of these tools
- (namely, certain versions of gopher), at present they are all free,
- and several are explicitly in the public domain or carry free GNU
- licenses.
-
- Telnet
- Telnet is a protocol whereby someone who is logged onto an account on
- a computer with full Internet access can access another computer over
- the Internet and login there, assuming he or she has login privileges
- on that computer as well. Anonymous telnet sessions are generally not
- permitted, but occasionally usernames are created with restricted
- privileges, for use by the Internet public.
-
- Anonymous FTP
- FTP stands for file transfer protocol, and is the name of a program
- used for file transfers between computers with full Internet access,
- assuming you have privileges on both the local and remote computers.
- Anonymous FTP is a common practice whereby anyone on the Internet may
- transfer files from (and sometimes to) a remote system with the
- userid "anonymous" and an arbitrary password. By convention,
- anonymous FTP users provide their e-mail addresses when asked for a
- password. This is useful to those archive managers who must justify
- to their bosses the time spent providing this free (but not cheap)
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 22
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-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- service. Some sites restrict when transfers may be made from their
- archives, and most prefer that large transfers be made only during
- off-hours (relative to that site).
-
- To receive a short guide to using anonymous FTP, send e-mail with the
- text "help" to <info@sunsite.unc.edu>.
-
- Anonymous FTP by E-mail
- Bitnet does not support telnet or ftp sessions, but many Bitnet nodes
- are also Internet nodes, and so do support telnet and ftp. For those
- people who only have access to computers on Bitnet, Princeton
- University offers a file transfer service by e-mail.
- <bitftp@pucc.bitnet> will send a help file in response to the message
- "help". There is also a BITFTP server in Germany: <bitftp@dearn> from
- within BITNET/EARN/NetNorth or <bitftp@vm.gmd.de> from the Internet.
- This server should be used only for ftp requests involving transfers
- within Europe. Those people who have neither full Internet access nor
- an account on a Bitnet node can retrieve files from anonymous ftp
- archives by e-mail courtesy of <ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com>, which will
- send instructions in response to the words "help" and "quit" on
- separate lines of an e-mail message.
-
- Here is an example of how to send for a document on the archive at
- rtfm.mit.edu. This example will return a list of all the FAQs stored
- in the directory pub/usenet/news.answers/, and a copy of this guide.
- Send the message
-
- send usenet/news.answers/index
- send usenet/news.answers/ai-faq/genetic/part1
- send usenet/news.answers/ai-faq/genetic/part2
- send usenet/news.answers/ai-faq/genetic/part3
- quit
-
- by e-mail to <mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu>.
-
- Gopher
- Gopher is a user-interface program that makes ftp and other types of
- connections for computer users when they select an item in a menu. It
- is an easy way to get stuff off the Internet without having to know
- where the stuff lives. Gopher is free, and there are nice versions
- for most types of computers, especially Unix workstations and Macs.
- It was invented at the University of Minnesota; current versions can
- be retrieved via anonymous ftp from boombox.micro.umn.edu. The name
- is a clever pun on the "go-for" person who runs errand for people,
- and on the burrowing rodent, which pops down a "hole" in the Internet
- and comes back up who-knows-where. comp.infosystems.gopher is the
- newsgroup for gopher-related issues in general. The FAQ for this
- group is stored on rtfm.mit.edu in the file
- "pub/usenet/news.answers/gopher-faq". There is an entire chapter on
- gopher in Krol (1992).
-
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 23
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- Archie
- Archie is a program that helps people locate software in any of the
- thousands of anonymous ftp archives around the world. A copy of the
- software can be retrieved via anonymous ftp from any archie server,
- including ftp.cs.widener.edu, in the /archie/clients/ directory.
- There are versions of archie for all sorts of Unix systems, as well
- as VMS and PCs running a variety of network software. Good places to
- look for help installing archie on any computer are from <archie-
- admin@ans.net> or bionet.users.addresses. Documentation is available
- via anonymous ftp on ftp.ans.net in the /pub/archie/doc/ directory,
- or by e-mail from <archie-admin@ans.net>.
-
- Archie can be used via e-mail, by sending e-mail with a list of
- commands to <archie@ans.net>. For details, send the command "help".
- Due to the very high demand for this service, requests should be made
- via e-mail or clients rather than telnet-ing to an archie server.
- Please try to use archie only outside of working hours, make your
- query as specific as possible, and use the archie server nearest you:
- archie.au in Australia; archie.funet.fi in Finland; archie.th-
- darmstadt.de in Germany; archie.doc.ic.ac.uk in Great Britain;
- archie.cs.huji.ac.il in Israel; archie.kuis.kyoto-u.ac.jp and
- archie.wide.ad.jp in Japan; archie.sogang.ac.kr in Korea; archie.nz
- in New Zealand; archie.luth.se in Sweden; archie.ncu.edu.tw in
- Taiwan; archie.ans.net, archie.rutgers.edu, archie.sura.net and
- archie.unl.net in the United States.
-
- Veronica
- Veronica is a very easy rodent-oriented net-wide index to
- computerized archives. Veronica's name is a play on the concepts of
- both gopher and archie. (Remember the comic book couple Archie and
- Veronica? Veronica does for gopher what archie does for anonymous
- FTP.) Veronica searches through hundreds of gopher holes looking for
- anything that matches a keyword supplied by the user, and assembles a
- list of gopher servers that contain items of interest. Note:
- veronica checks *titles* of gopher items only, not their contents.
-
- At present, there are no veronica clients; veronica is a gopher
- tool. An informal veronica FAQ is posted regularly in
- comp.infosystems.gopher and archived on veronica.scs.unr.edu as
- veronica/veronica-faq.
-
- Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS)
- The idea behind WAIS is to make anonymous FTP archives more
- accessible by indexing their contents for easy searching and
- browsing. The client's user interface is simple, but the concept is
- so powerful that nearly everyone with an anonymous FTP archive has
- spent part of 1992 and 1993 building WAIS indices of all available
- material (software, data, documents and other information). In the
- course of all this effort an enormous amount of information that has
- been available for years or even decades has suddenly become publicly
- available for the first time all in the past year. WAIS servers are
-
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- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 24
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-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- often used as back-end engines for gopher servers. Gopher archives
- are built by hand, but WAIS bundles and organizes related items
- automatically, and thus greatly extends the functionality of gopher.
-
- Good WAIS client programs for the Mac (WAIStation) and PC (PCWAIS)
- are available on the anonymous ftp archive at think.com. If your
- computer has full Internet access, you can try out WAIS on a Unix
- system, courtesy of Thinking Machines Corp., by telnetting to
- quake.think.com. Use the username "wais" and give your e-mail address
- as the password. See the newsgroup comp.infosystems.wais for more
- details. The FAQ for this group is stored on rtfm.mit.edu in the file
- "pub/usenet/news.answers/wais-faq/getting-started".
-
- The World-Wide Web (WWW)
- The World-Wide Web is yet another tool for gathering useful
- information from the Internet. It was invented at the European
- Particle Physics Laboratory (CERN), Switzerland. The Web looks like a
- document that users can open and read, but clicking on certain words
- causes other documents to be retrieved and opened for inspection. The
- most powerful aspect of the Web at present is the ease with which
- seamless, attractive online documentation can be created, that is
- easy to find and browse, no matter where on the Internet the actual
- documents are. You can try the Web, courtesy of CERN: telnet to
- info.cern.ch (no username needed). WWW features a remarkably
- beautiful X interface called xmosaic(1).
-
- References
-
- Kehoe, B.P. (1992) "Zen and the Art of the Internet: A Beginner's
- Guide to the Internet", 2nd Edition (July). Prentice Hall, Englewood
- Cliffs, NJ. 112 pages. The 1st Edition, (February) is available in
- PostScript format via anonymous ftp from ftp.cs.widener.edu and many
- other Internet archives.
-
- Krol, E. (1992) "The Whole Internet: Catalog & User's Guide".
- O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., Sebastopol, CA. 376 pages.
-
- LaQuey, T. and J.C. Ryer (1992) "The Internet Companion: A Beginner's
- Guide to Global Networking". Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Reading,
- MA. 208 pages.
-
- Smith, Una R. (1993) "A Biologist's Guide to Internet Resources."
- Usenet sci.answers. Available via gopher, anonymous FTP and e-mail
- from many archives. For a free copy via e-mail, send the text "send
- pub/usenet/sci.answers/biology/guide/*" to the e-mail address mail-
- server@rtfm.mit.edu. ~45 pages.
-
- Gaffin, A. (1993) "The Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet." Published
- by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Available via anonymous
- FTP from ftp.eff.org as file(s) /pub/Net_info/Big_Dummy/big-dummys-
- guide.txt (ASCII) and /pub/Net_info/Big_Dummy/big-dummys-
-
-
-
- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 25
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- FAQ(2/3) ANSWERS FAQ(2/3)
-
-
-
- guide.sea.hqx (Macintosh HyperCard stack).
-
- Gaffin, A. with Heitkoetter, J. (1993, 1994) "The Big Dummy's Guide
- to the Internet: A round trip through Global Networks, Life in
- Cyberspace, and Everything...", aka `bdgtti.texi' is also available
- from ftp.eff.org in /pub/Net_info/Big_Dummy/Big_Dummys_Guide_Texi/*
- (Texinfo, ASCII, HTML, DVI and PostScript). The European edition is
- kept on ftp.germany.eu.net under /pub/books/big-dummys-guide/big-
- dummys-guide-texi. ~250 pages.
-
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- Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 26
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-
-
- --
-
- -joke
-
- --
- Joerg Heitkoetter
- Systems Analysis Group "Why was I born with such
- University of Dortmund, Germany contemporaries?"
- <joke@ls11.informatik.uni-dortmund.de> -- Oscar Wilde
-