abstract = "In a standard evolutionary algorithm such as genetic
algorithms (GAs), a selection mechanism is used to
decide which individuals are to be chosen for
subsequent mutation. Examples of selection mechanisms
are fitness-proportional selection, in which
individuals are chosen with a probability directly in
proportion to their fitness value, and rank selection,
in which individuals are selected with a probability in
proportion to their ordinal ranking by fitness. These
two human-designed selection heuristics implicitly
assume that fitter individuals produce fitter
offspring. Whilst one might invest human ingenuity in
the construction of alternative selection heuristics,
the approach adopted in this paper is to represent a
generic family of selection heuristics which are
applied via an algorithmic framework. We then generate
instances of selection heuristics and test their
performance in an evolutionary algorithm (which in this
paper tackles a variety of bitstring optimization
problems). The representation we use for the program
space is a register machine (a set of real-valued
registers on which a program is executed).
Fitness-proportional and rank selection can be
expressed as one-line programs, and more sophisticated
selection heuristics may also be expressed. The result
is a system which produces selection heuristics that
outperform either of the original selection
heuristics.",
notes = "Also known as \cite{2002052} Distributed on CD-ROM at
GECCO-2011.