abstract = "This paper introduces a Minimum Description Length
(MDL) principle to define fitness functions in Genetic
Programming (GP). In traditional (Koza-style) GP, the
size of trees was usually controlled by user-defined
parameters, such as the maximum number of nodes and
maximum tree depth. Large tree sizes meant that the
time necessary to measure their fitnesses often
dominated total processing time. To overcome this
difficulty, we introduce a method for controlling tree
growth, which uses an MDL principle. Initially we
choose a decision tree representation for the GP
chromosomes, and then show how an MDL principle can be
used to define GP fitness functions. Thereafter we
apply the MDL-based fitness functions to some practical
problems. Using our implemented system STROGANOFF, we
show how MDL-based fitness functions can be applied
successfully to problems of pattern recognitions. The
results demonstrate that our approach is superior to
usual neural networks in terms of generalization of
learning",
notes = "Describes MDL; Work on both decision trees and GMDH
symbolic regression trees (STROGANOFF). Nature of trees
(ie never worse than component trees) more important
than MDL?