Adaptation in genetic search

The previous Chapters 3, 4 presented perhaps the simplest instances of genetic global optimization algorithms that only exploit basic mechanisms of genetic computation, such as mutation, crossover and selection. All these mechanisms do not change with respect to the genetic epoch and are “blind” to the optimization problem to be solved as well as to the knowledge about it currently gathered by the algorithm. Such simplicity allows us to construct the mathematical models and perform deep formal analysis of the asymptotic behavior, which is helpful in understanding the real nature of genetic global optimization. However, the efficiency of basic genetic search mechanisms are frequently criticized.