Evolutionary Module Acquisition

Evolutionary programming and genetic algorithms share many features, not the least of which is a reliance of an analogy to natural selection over a population as a means of implementing search. With their commonalities come shared problems whose solutions can be investigated at a higher level and applied to both. One such problem is the manipulation of solution parameters whose values encode a desirable sub-solution. In this paper, we define a superset of evolutionary programming and genetic algorithms, called evolutionary algorithms, and demonstrate a method of automatic modularization that protects promising partial solutions and speeds acquisition time.