Evolutionary Computation Glossary
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(biol) Theory of
EVOLUTION,
proposed by Darwin, that evolution comes about through random variation of heritable
characteristics, coupled with natural
SELECTION
(survival of the fittest). A physical mechanism for this, in terms of
GENEs
and
CHROMOSOMEs,
was discovered many years later.
DARWINISM
was combined with the selectionism of Weismann and the genetics of Mendel to form the Neo-Darwinian
Synthesis during the 1930s-1950s by T. Dobzhansky, E. Mayr, G. Simpson, R. Fisher, S. Wright, and
others. cf
LAMARCKISM.
The talk.origins
FAQ
contains more details (See Q10.7). Also, the "Dictionary of Darwinism and of Evolution" (Ed. by
Patrick Tort) was published in early 1996. It contains a vast amount of information about what
Darwinism is and (perhaps more importantly) is not. Further information from
http://www.planete.net/~ptort/darwin/evolengl.html (in various languages).
(EC)
Theory which inspired all branches of EC.
The condition where the combination of good
BUILDING BLOCKs
leads to reduced
FITNESS,
rather than increased fitness. Proposed by [GOLD89] as a reason for
the failure of
GAs
on many tasks.
(biol) This refers to a cell which contains two copies of
each
CHROMOSOME.
The copies are homologous i.e. they contain the same
GENEs
in the same sequence. In many sexually reproducing
SPECIES,
the genes in one of the sets of chromosomes will have been inherited from the father's
GAMETE
(sperm), while the genes in the other set of chromosomes are from the mother's gamete (ovum).
(biol) Deoxyribonucleic Acid, a double stranded macromolecule of
helical structure (comparable to a spiral staircase). Both single strands are linear, unbranched
nucleic acid molecules build up from alternating deoxyribose (sugar) and phosphate molecules. Each
deoxyribose part is coupled to a nucleotide base, which is responsible for establishing the
connection to the other strand of the
DNA.
The 4 nucleotide bases Adenine (A), Thymine (T), Cytosine (C) and Guanine (G) are the alphabet of
the genetic information. The sequences of these bases in the DNA molecule determines the building
plan of any organism. [eds note: suggested reading: James D. Watson (1968) "The Double Helix",
London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson]
(literature) Douglas Noel Adams, contemporary Science Fiction comedy writer. Published "The Hitch-
Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" when he was 25 years old, which made him one of the currently most
successful British authors. [eds note: interestingly Watson was also 25 years old, when he
discovered the DNA; both events are probably not interconnected; you might also want to look at:
Neil Gaiman's (1987) "DON'T PANIC -- The Official Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy companion", and
of course get your hands on the wholly remarkable
FAQ
in alt.fan.douglas-adams ]
(biol) Desoxyribonukleinsäure, German for
DNA.
(comp) The Domain Name System, a distributed database system for translating computer names (e.g.
lumpi.informatik.uni-dortmund.de) into numeric Internet, i.e. IP-addresses (129.217.36.140)
and vice-versa.
DNS
allows you to hook into the net without remembering long lists of numeric references, unless your
system administrator has incorrectly set-up your site's system.
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Hitch Hiker's Guide to Evolutionary Computation,
Issue 7.4, released 18 January 2000
Copyright © 1993-2000 by J. Heitkötter and
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