Proceedings of the 1st annual conference on genetic programming

This book of proceedings contains the papers presented at the first genetic programming conference, held at Stanford University on July 28-31, 1996. Genetic programming is an automatic programming technique for evolving computer programs that solve (or approximately solve) problems. Starting with a primordial ooze of thousands of randomly created computer programs composed of appropriate programmatic ingredients, a population of computers programs is progressively evolved over many generations using the Darwinian principle of survival of the fittest, a sexual recombination operation, and occasional mutation.