Package ec.breed

Class BufferedBreedingPipeline

java.lang.Object
ec.BreedingSource
ec.BreedingPipeline
ec.breed.BufferedBreedingPipeline
All Implemented Interfaces:
Prototype, Setup, SteadyStateBSourceForm, RandomChoiceChooserD, Serializable, Cloneable

public class BufferedBreedingPipeline extends BreedingPipeline
If empty, a BufferedBreedingPipeline makes a request of exactly num-inds individuals from a single child source; it then uses these individuals to fill requests (returning min each time), until the buffer is emptied, at which time it grabs exactly num-inds more individuals, and so on.

What is this useful for? Well, let's say for example that you want to cross over two individuals, then cross them over again. You'd like to hook up two CrossoverPipelines in series. Unfortunately, CrossoverPipeline takes two sources; even if you set them to the same source, it requests one individual from the first source and then one from the second, where what you really want is for it to request two individuals from a single source (the other CrossoverPipeline).

The solution to this is to hook a CrossoverPipeline as the source to a BufferedBreedingPipeline of buffer-size 2 (or some multiple of 2 actually). Then the BufferedBreedingPipeline is set as both sources to another CrossoverPipeline.

Typical Number of Individuals Produced Per produce(...) call
1

Number of Sources
1

Parameters

base.num-inds
int >= 1
(the buffer size)

Default Base
breed.buffered

See Also:
  • Field Details

  • Constructor Details

    • BufferedBreedingPipeline

      public BufferedBreedingPipeline()
  • Method Details

    • defaultBase

      public Parameter defaultBase()
      Description copied from interface: Prototype
      Returns the default base for this prototype. This should generally be implemented by building off of the static base() method on the DefaultsForm object for the prototype's package. This should be callable during setup(...).
    • numSources

      public int numSources()
      Description copied from class: BreedingPipeline
      Returns the number of sources to this pipeline. Called during BreedingPipeline's setup. Be sure to return a value > 0, or DYNAMIC_SOURCES which indicates that setup should check the parameter file for the parameter "num-sources" to make its determination.
      Specified by:
      numSources in class BreedingPipeline
    • typicalIndsProduced

      public int typicalIndsProduced()
      Description copied from class: BreedingPipeline
      Returns the "typical" number of individuals produced -- by default this is the minimum typical number of individuals produced by any children sources of the pipeline. If you'd prefer something different, override this method.
      Overrides:
      typicalIndsProduced in class BreedingPipeline
    • setup

      public void setup(EvolutionState state, Parameter base)
      Description copied from class: BreedingSource
      Sets up the BreedingPipeline. You can use state.output.error here because the top-level caller promises to call exitIfErrors() after calling setup. Note that probability might get modified again by an external source if it doesn't normalize right.

      The most common modification is to normalize it with some other set of probabilities, then set all of them up in increasing summation; this allows the use of the fast static BreedingSource-picking utility method, BreedingSource.pickRandom(...). In order to use this method, for example, if four breeding source probabilities are {0.3, 0.2, 0.1, 0.4}, then they should get normalized and summed by the outside owners as: {0.3, 0.5, 0.6, 1.0}.

      Specified by:
      setup in interface Prototype
      Specified by:
      setup in interface Setup
      Overrides:
      setup in class BreedingPipeline
      See Also:
    • prepareToProduce

      public void prepareToProduce(EvolutionState state, int subpopulation, int thread)
      Description copied from class: BreedingSource
      Called before produce(...), usually once a generation, or maybe only once if you're doing steady-state evolution, to let the breeding source "warm up" prior to producing. Individuals should be produced from old individuals in positions [start...start+length] in the subpopulation only. May be called again to reset the BreedingSource for a whole 'nuther subpopulation.
      Overrides:
      prepareToProduce in class BreedingPipeline
    • produce

      public int produce(int min, int max, int subpopulation, ArrayList<Individual> inds, EvolutionState state, int thread, HashMap<String,Object> misc)
      Description copied from class: BreedingSource
      Produces n individuals from the given subpopulation and puts them into inds[start...start+n-1], where n = Min(Max(q,min),max), where q is the "typical" number of individuals the BreedingSource produces in one shot, and returns n. max must be >= min, and min must be >= 1. For example, crossover might typically produce two individuals, tournament selection might typically produce a single individual, etc.
      Specified by:
      produce in class BreedingSource