Newsgroups: comp.ai.genetic,comp.ai.alife
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From: David.Beasley@cs.cf.ac.uk (David Beasley)
Subject: Reminder - comp.ai.genetic Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Summary: Contents of, and how to get hold of the comp.ai.genetic FAQ
Originator: David.Beasley@cs.cf.ac.uk (David Beasley)
Sender: news@cf.ac.uk (Usenet News user)
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Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 16:42:54 GMT
Expires: Sat, 10 Aug 1996 16:42:51 GMT
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A message from the comp.ai.genetic FAQmaster.

This message is for people who are (relatively) new to this newsgroup.

There is a `Frequently Asked Questions list' (FAQ) for comp.ai.genetic,
titled "The Hitch Hikers Guide To Evolutionary Computation". This
contains a vast amount of information, primarily aimed at newcomers.  The
plain text version of guide is in six parts, and is posted to the net
(comp.ai.genetic, comp.answers and news.answers) every three months. The
last posting was on June 20th. The next posting is due on Sept 20th. 
If you'd like a copy, and can't wait that long, it can be retrieved from
various archives in various ways. Details below.

There is also now a new HTML version of the guide, available via the
World Wide Web. This includes links between questions and links to
glossary entries, among other things. Details below.

If you have information which could usefully go into the guide, or any
corrections, send them to me at the address below. Please include in the
subject line: HHGTEC.  All contributions/help welcome.

If you have any questions which you'd like to be answered in the FAQ,
post them to comp.ai.genetic first. If any sensible answers are
forthcoming, I'll include the information in the FAQ.

FAQ Table of Contents
---------------------

 Part1
     Q0: How about an introduction to all this?
       - What is comp.ai.genetic all about?
       - How do I get started? What about USENET documentation?

 Part2
     Q1: What are Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs)?
     Q1.1: What's a Genetic Algorithm (GA)?
     Q1.2: What's Evolutionary Programming (EP)?
     Q1.3: What's an Evolution Strategy (ES)?
     Q1.4: What's a Classifier System (CFS)?
     Q1.5: What's Genetic Programming (GP)?

 Part3
     Q2: What applications of EAs are there?
     Q3: Who is concerned with EAs?
     Q4: How many EAs exist? Which?
     Q4.1: What about Alife systems, like Tierra and VENUS?
     Q5: What about all this Optimization stuff?

 Part4
     Q10: What introductory material on EAs is there?
     Q10.1: Suitable background reading for beginners?
     Q10.2: Textbooks on EC?
     Q10.3: The Classics?
     Q10.4: Introductory Journal Articles?
     Q10.5: Introductory Technical Reports?
     Q10.6: Not-quite-so-introductory Literature?
     Q10.7: Biological Background Readings?
     Q10.8: On-line bibliography collections?
     Q10.9: Videos?
     Q10.10: CD-ROMs?
     Q10.11: How do I get a copy of a dissertation?
     Q11: What EC related journals and magazines are there?
     Q12: What are the important conferences/proceedings on EC?
     Q13: What Evolutionary Computation Associations exist?
     Q14: What Technical Reports are available?
     Q15: What information is available over the net?
     Q15.1: What digests are there?
     Q15.2: What mailing lists are there?
     Q15.3: What online information repositories are there?
     Q15.4: What relevant newsgroups and FAQs are there?
     Q15.5: What about all these Internet Services?

 Part5
     Q20: What EA software packages are available?
     Q20.1: Free software packages?
     Q20.2: Commercial software packages?
     Q20.3: Current research projects?

 Part6
     Q21: What are Gray codes, and why are they used?
     Q22: What test data is available?
     Q42: What is Life all about?
     Q42b: Is there a FAQ to this group?
     Q98: Are there any patents on EAs?
     Q99: A Glossary on EAs?


How to get hold of the Guide
----------------------------

The guide is available in PostScript format (good for printing out, about
100 pages), and as plain text (6 files, each about 50k). A new HTML
version is also accessible on the World-Wide Web.

(i) World Wide Web HTML Version

Available from Encore sites at:

Germany: EUnet Deutschland GmbH:
	http://research.Germany.EU.net:8080/encore/www/

Spain: The University of Granada:
	http://kal-el.ugr.es/clife/www/

       The University of Oviedo:
	http://www.etsimo.uniovi.es/ftp/pub/EC/FAQ/www/

USA: The Santa Fe Institute:
	http://alife.santafe.edu/~joke/encore/www/

     Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN:
	http://www.cs.purdue.edu/coast/archive/clife/FAQ/www/

Canada: University of Alberta:
	http://cassandra.biochem.ualberta.ca/~encore/www/

Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong:
	http://www.cs.cuhk.hk/pub/EC/FAQ/www/top.htm


(ii) By anonymous FTP.

USA:
	ftp alife.santafe.edu			(ENCORE default node)
	cd /pub/USER-AREA/EC/FAQ
	binary
	get hhgtec.ps.gz			(gzipped postscript)
     or
	mget part?				(text version)

   or
	ftp ftp.krl.caltech.edu			(ENCORE mirror site, CalTec)
	cd /pub/EC/FAQ
	<then as above>

   other ENCORE mirror sites in the USA include:
	ftp.cs.wayne.edu	cd /pub/EC	Wayne State Uni, Detroit

ASIA:
	ftp ftp.cs.cuhk.hk			(ENCORE mirror site, Hong Kong)
	cd /pub/EC/FAQ
	<then as above>

EUROPE:
	ftp ftp.dcs.warwick.ac.uk		(ENCORE mirror site, UK)
	cd /pub/mirrors/EC/FAQ
	<then as above>
   or
	ftp ftp.Germany.EU.net			(ENCORE mirror site - Germany)
	cd /pub/research/softcomp/EC/FAQ
	<then as above>
   or
	ftp blanche.polytechnique.fr		(ENCORE mirror site - France)
	cd /pub/eark/EC/FAQ
	<then as above>
   or
	ftp zeus.etsimo.uniovi.es		(ENCORE mirror site - Spain)
	cd /pub/EC/FAQ
	<then as above>

AFRICA:
	ftp ftp.uct.ac.za			(ENCORE mirror site, South 
	cd /pub/mirrors/EC/FAQ			Africa)
	<then as above>

Elsewhere:
	ftp rtfm.mit.edu
	cd /pub/usenet/news.answers/ai-faq/genetic
	mget part?				(text version)

(iii) By email server

	If you dont have ftp access, you can retrieve the FAQ by email
	server (this will probably be slower than ftp). Simply email a
	message to: 
		mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu
	containing the lines:
		send usenet/news.answers/ai-faq/genetic/part1
		send usenet/news.answers/ai-faq/genetic/part2
		send usenet/news.answers/ai-faq/genetic/part3
		send usenet/news.answers/ai-faq/genetic/part4
		send usenet/news.answers/ai-faq/genetic/part5
		send usenet/news.answers/ai-faq/genetic/part6
		quit

(iv) By FTPmail
        
	Method (iii) can only retrieve files from the MIT FAQ archive.
	There also exists a general purpose FTP-by-email service. The
	"ftpmail" service is installed on several sites to allow
	transmission of FTPable files from almost anywhere. To get
	the PostScript version of the FAQ from Warwick, for example,
	send a message to:
		ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com
	containing the lines:
		reply <your-own-e-mail-address-here>
		connect ftp.dcs.warwick.ac.uk
		get pub/mirrors/EC/FAQ/hhgtec.ps.gz
		quit
	where <your-e-mail-address> is e.g. foo@bar.edu

	The following sites serve "ftpmail" requests:

       (USA)     <ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com>
                 <ftpmail@sunsite.unc.edu>
                 <bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu>

       (Europe)  <bitftp@dearn>
                 <ftpmail@ftp.uni-stuttgart.de>
                 <ftpmail@grasp.insa-lyon.fr>
                 <bitftp@plearn.edu.pl>
                 <ftpmail@doc.ic.ak.uk>

(v) Retrieval problems

	If you cant get through to an ftp site, try again at other
	times of the day. If you still cant get through, consult your
	local System Admin person. The same applies to general
	questions about how to use ftp, email, newsreaders, etc: ask
	your local guru :-) Please *DONT* ask me to send copies of the
	FAQ by email.


Decompressing the gzipped postscript files.
-------------------------------------------

The GNU project (un-)compression program gzip(1)/gunzip(1) is available
from various sites around the globe (use BINARY mode for transfer!), e.g.: 

AFRICA: ftp.sun.ac.za:/pub/gnu
ASIA: utsun.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp:/ftpsync/prep, cair.kaist.ac.kr:/pub/gnu,
  ftp.nectec.or.th:/pub/mirrors/gnu
AUSTRALIA: archie.au:/gnu
BRASIL: ftp.unicamp.br:/pub/gnu
CANADA: ftp.cs.ubc.ca:/mirror2/gnu
MIDDLE-EAST: ftp.technion.ac.il:/pub/unsupported/gnu
EUROPE: irisa.irisa.fr:/pub/gnu, src.doc.ic.ac.uk:/gnu, ugle.unit.no, 
  ftp.win.tue.nl:/pub/gnu, ftp.denet.dk, ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de,   
  nic.switch.ch:/mirror/gnu, nic.funet.fi:/pub/gnu, ftp.luth.se:/pub/unix/gnu, 
  archive.eu.net
USA: gatekeeper.dec.com:/pub/GNU, wuarchive.wustl.edu:/mirrors/gnu, 
  ftp.uu.net:/systems/gnu, prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu, ftp.hawaii.edu:/mirrors/gnu

David Beasley, Praxis plc, Bath, UK                               __o
dabley@praxis.co.uk                                               \<,  
-comp.ai.genetic FAQ Editor-                 ___________________()/ ()___ 


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