math/p5-AI-Genetic 0.05_1 DragonFly

This module implements a Genetic Algorithm (GA) in pure Perl. Other Perl modules that achieve the same thing (perhaps better, perhaps worse) do exist. Please check CPAN. I mainly wrote this module to satisfy my own needs, and to learn something about GAs along the way.

I will not go into the details of GAs here, but here are the bare basics. Plenty of information can be found on the web.

In a GA, a population of individuals compete for survival. Each individual is designated by a set of genes that define its behaviour. Individuals that perform better (as defined by the fitness function) have a higher chance of mating with other individuals. When two individuals mate, they swap some of their genes, resulting in an individual that has properties from both of its "parents". Every now and then, a mutation occurs where some gene randomly changes value, resulting in a different individual. If all is well defined, after a few generations, the population should converge on a "good-enough" solution to the problem being tackled.