The Revolution of Evolution for Real-World Applications.
Peter J. Bentley · 1997
Abstract. This paper describes an evolutionary search method known as the genetic algorithm (GA) and examines its application to real-world problems. A description of the algorithm itself and its history is provided. A general review of GA theory and analysis is given, and many of the newer, more advanced types of GA are introduced. Some of the hundreds of different applications tackled by GAs are then described. Two more detailed case-studies are included, to outline how GAs can be applied to real-world applications, and to illustrate some of the difficulties such problems present to the designers of GA-based systems. The paper concludes that the GA is a highly significant and useful tool, suitable for a variety of different applications. 1