Foundations of Genetic Algorithms

This chapter is devoted to the foundations of the genetic algorithms that will be used in the remainder of this book. Starting with several basic notions and definitions in genetic algorithms, fundamental procedures of genetic algorithms are outlined. The main idea of genetic algorithms, involving coding, fitness, scaling, and genetic operators, is then examined. In the context of bit string representations, some of the important genetic operators are also discussed by putting special emphasis on implementation issues for genetic algorithms.