About the book

Robot with transparent background A Field Guide to Genetic Programming (ISBN 978-1-4092-0073-4) is an introduction to genetic programming (GP). GP is a systematic, domain-independent method for getting computers to solve problems automatically starting from a high-level statement of what needs to be done. Using ideas from natural evolution, GP starts from an ooze of random computer programs, and progressively refines them through processes of mutation and sexual recombination, until solutions emerge. All this without the user having to know or specify the form or structure of solutions in advance. GP has generated a plethora of human-competitive results and applications, including novel scientific discoveries and patentable inventions.

The book is freely downloadable under a Creative Commons license as a PDF and low cost printed copies can be purchased from lulu.com. This web site will be used for information relating to the book, and other pertinent announcements. We also have a discussion group for questions and conversation related to the book.

Thursday 5 February 2009

Google hits

Just for fun, a few days ago I tried searching Google for "genetic programming", and got a whopping half a million hits (533,000 as of this morning).

I could not resist trying out "field guide to genetic programming". Last time I had done it, a few months ago, we had something like 3,500 hits, which I thought was wonderful. So, nothing prepared me for this: 47,400 hits!!! (as of this morning) I.e., amazingly, 11.2% of all pages that mention GP also mention the book.

I suspect a lot of this is just due to the fact that a few big blogs somehow mentioned the book. One of the latest was a mention of the book in del.icio.us in relation to Roger Alsing's Evolution of Monna Lisa. (I'm not even sure that is genetic programming, but still a very cool application.)

Many thanks!

Riccardo