2 The Genetic Programming Algorithm

Genetic programming adopts a similar search strategy as a genetic algorithm, but uses a program representation and special operators. It is this representation that makes genetic programming unique. The basic algorithm is as follows:

1. Initialise a population of solutions
2. Assign a fitness to each population member
3. While the Stopping criterion is not met
4.         Produce new individuals using operators and the existing population
5.         Place new individuals into the population
6.         Assign a fitness to each population member, and test for the Stopping criterion
7. Return the best fitness found

The rest of this section describes the components of this algorithm in more detail, beginning with the representation.