BrkgaMpIpr.jl Guide and Documentation - Julia version
BrkgaMpIpr.jl provides a very easy-to-use framework for the Multi-Parent Biased Random-Key Genetic Algorithm with Implict Path Relink (BRKGA-MP-IPR). Assuming that your have a decoder to your problem, we can setup, run, and extract the value of the best solution in less than 5 commands (obvisiously, you may need few other lines fo code to do a proper test).
This Julia version provides a framework as fast as C/C++, as easy-to-code as Python, and it is much cheaper (indeed, free) than Matlab. Unit and coverage tests are fully implemented, and all pseudo-random test data were carefully crafted to guarantee reproducibility (although it is possible that some tests fail because of different versions of the random number generator). Therefore, BrkgaMpIpr.jl should be suitable to be used in production environments.
If Julia is not suitable to you, we may find useful the C++ version We are also developing a Python version which is in its earlier stages. At this moment, we have no plans to implement the BRKGA-MP-IPR in other languages such as Java or C#. But if you want to do so, you are must welcome. But please, keep the API as close as possible to the C++ API (or Julia API in case you decide go C), and use the best coding and documentation practices of your chosen language/framework.
If you are not familiar with how BRKGA works, take a look on Standard BRKGA and Multi-Parent BRKGA. In the future, we will provide a Prime on BRKGA-MP section. If you know what elite set, decoder, and so means, we can get to the guts on the Guide / Tutorial.
- Guide / Tutorial
- Installation and tests
- TL;DR
- Getting started
- First things first: basic data structures and decoder function
- Building BRKGA-MP-IPR data structures
- Initialization and Warm-start solutions
- Optimization time: evolving the population
- Accessing solutions/chromosomes
- Implicit Path Relink
- Shaking and Resetting
- Multi-population and migration
- Simulating the standard BRKGA
- Reading and writing parameters
- (Probable Valuable) Tips
- API documentation
- Enumerations
- Types
- I/O functions
- Building functions
- Population manipulation functions
- Retrival functions
- Evolution functions
- Path relink functions
- Internals
- Index
- Contributing
License and Citing
BRKGA-MP-IPR uses a permissive BSD-like license and it can be used as it pleases you. And since this framework is also part of an academic effort, we kindly ask you to remember to cite the originating paper of this work. Indeed, Clause 4 estipulates that "all publications, softwares, or any other materials mentioning features or use of this software (as a whole package or any parts of it) and/or the data used to test it must cite the following article explicitly":
C.E. Andrade. R.F. Toso, J.F. Gonçalves, M.G.C. Resende. The Multi-Parent Biased Random-key Genetic Algorithm with Implicit Path Relinking. European Journal of Operational Research, To appear, 2019. DOI 10.1016/j.ejor.2019.11.037
Check it out the full license.
About the logo
The logo is just a play with 3 chromosomes crossing with each other (multi-parent) during the mating process. The lines also represent solutions paths that encounter with each other generating new solutions during the path-relink.