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C. FERREIRA In N. Nedjah, L. de M. Mourelle, A. Abraham, eds., Genetic Systems Programming: Theory and Experiences, Studies in Computational Intelligence, Vol. 13, pp. 21-56, Springer-Verlag, 2006.

Automatically Defined Functions in Gene Expression Programming

Cells and the Creation of Automatically Defined Functions
 
Automatically Defined Functions were for the first time introduced by Koza as a way of reusing code in Genetic Programming (Koza 1992).

The ADFs of GP obey a rigid syntax in which an S-expression, with a LIST-n function on the root, lists n-1 function-defining branches and one value-returning branch (Figure 7). The function-defining branches are used to create ADFs that may or may not be called upon by the value-returning branch. Such rigid structure imposes great constraints on the genetic operators as the different branches of the LIST function are not allowed to exchange genetic material amongst themselves. Furthermore, the ADFs of Genetic Programming are further constrained by the number of arguments each takes, as the number of arguments must be a priori defined and cannot be changed during evolution.

Figure 7. The overall structure of an S-expression with two function-defining branches and the value-returning branch used in Genetic Programming to create Automatically Defined Functions.

In the multigenic system of Gene Expression Programming, the implementation of ADFs can be done elegantly and without any kind of constraints as each gene is used to encode a different ADF (Ferreira 2002a). The way these ADFs interact with one another and how often they are called upon is encoded in special genes – homeotic genes – thus called because they are the ones controlling the overall development of the individual. And continuing with the biological analogy, the product of expression of such genes is also called a cell. Thus, homeotic genes determine which genes are expressed in which cell and how they interact with one another. Or stated differently, homeotic genes determine which ADFs are called upon in which main program and how they interact with one another. How this is done is explained in the remainder of this section.

 

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