Book Image

Hands-On Genetic Algorithms with Python

By : Eyal Wirsansky
Book Image

Hands-On Genetic Algorithms with Python

By: Eyal Wirsansky

Overview of this book

Genetic algorithms are a family of search, optimization, and learning algorithms inspired by the principles of natural evolution. By imitating the evolutionary process, genetic algorithms can overcome hurdles encountered in traditional search algorithms and provide high-quality solutions for a variety of problems. This book will help you get to grips with a powerful yet simple approach to applying genetic algorithms to a wide range of tasks using Python, covering the latest developments in artificial intelligence. After introducing you to genetic algorithms and their principles of operation, you'll understand how they differ from traditional algorithms and what types of problems they can solve. You'll then discover how they can be applied to search and optimization problems, such as planning, scheduling, gaming, and analytics. As you advance, you'll also learn how to use genetic algorithms to improve your machine learning and deep learning models, solve reinforcement learning tasks, and perform image reconstruction. Finally, you'll cover several related technologies that can open up new possibilities for future applications. By the end of this book, you'll have hands-on experience of applying genetic algorithms in artificial intelligence as well as in numerous other domains.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
1
Section 1: The Basics of Genetic Algorithms
4
Section 2: Solving Problems with Genetic Algorithms
9
Section 3: Artificial Intelligence Applications of Genetic Algorithms
14
Section 4: Related Technologies

Combinatorial Optimization

In this chapter, you will learn how genetic algorithms can be utilized in combinatorial optimization applications. We will start by describing search problems and combinatorial optimization, and outline several hands-on examples of combinatorial optimization problems. We will then analyze each of these problems and match them with a Python-based solution using the DEAP framework. The optimization problems we will cover are the well-known knapsack problem, the traveling salesman problem (TSP), and the vehicle routing problem (VRP). As a bonus, we will cover the topics of genotype-to-phenotype mapping and exploration versus exploitation.

In this chapter, you will do the following:

  • Understand the nature of search problems and combinatorial optimization
  • Solve the knapsack problem using a genetic algorithm coded with the DEAP framework
  • Solve the TSP using...