Introduction
EVOLUTIONARY PROGRAMMING, originally conceived by Lawrence J. Fogel
in 1960, is a stochastic OPTIMIZATION strategy similar to GENETIC
ALGORITHMs, but instead places emphasis on the behavioral linkage
between PARENTS and their OFFSPRING, rather than seeking to emulate
specific GENETIC OPERATORS as observed in nature. EVOLUTIONARY
PROGRAMMING is similar to EVOLUTION STRATEGIES, although the two
approaches developed independently (see below).
Like both ES and GAs, EP is a useful method of OPTIMIZATION when
other techniques such as gradient descent or direct, analytical
discovery are not possible. Combinatoric and real-valued FUNCTION
OPTIMIZATION in which the OPTIMIZATION surface or FITNESS landscape
is "rugged", possessing many locally optimal solutions, are well
suited for EVOLUTIONARY PROGRAMMING.