Still doing evolutionary algorithms with Perl

Abstract

Algorithm::Evolutionary (A::E from now on) was introduced in 2002, after a talk in YAPC::EU in Munich. 7 years later, A::E is in its 0.67 version (past its "number of the beast" 0.666), and has been used extensively, to the point of being the foundation of much of the (computer) science being done by our research group (and, admittedly, not many others). All is not done, however; now A::E is being integrated with POE so that evolutionary algorithms (EAs) can be combined with all kinds of servers and used in client, servers, and anything in between. In this companion to the talk I will explain what evolutionary algorithms are, what they are being used for, how to do them with Perl (using these or other fine modules found in CPAN) and what evolutionary algorithms can do for Perl at large.