Article View: comp.ai.genetic
Article #2FAQ: comp.ai.genetic part 2/3 (A Guide to Frequently Asked Questions)
From: Joerg Heitkoetter
Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1993 18:06
Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1993 18:06
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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
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
Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 24
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.
Issue 1.10 Posted: 20 December 1993 26
--
-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
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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>
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Date: 27 Dec 1993 18:06:21 GMT
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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)