ec

Class Evaluator

java.lang.Object

ec.Evaluator

All Implemented Interfaces:

Setup, Singleton, Serializable

Direct Known Subclasses:

CompetitiveEvaluator, MultiPopCoevolutionaryEvaluator, SimpleEvaluator

public abstract class Evaluator
extends Object
implements Singleton

An Evaluator is a singleton object which is responsible for the evaluation process during the course of an evolutionary run. Only one Evaluator is created in a run, and is stored in the EvolutionState object.

Evaluators typically do their work by applying an instance of some subclass of Problem to individuals in the population. Evaluators come with a Problem prototype which they may clone as necessary to create new Problem spaces to evaluate individuals in (Problems may be reused to prevent constant cloning).

Evaluators may be multithreaded, with one Problem instance per thread usually. The number of threads they may spawn (excepting a parent "gathering" thread) is governed by the EvolutionState's evalthreads value.

Be careful about spawning threads -- this system has no few synchronized methods for efficiency's sake, so you must either divvy up evaluation in a thread-safe fashion, or otherwise you must obtain the appropriate locks on individuals in the population and other objects as necessary.

Parameters

base.problem classname, inherits and != ec.Problem	(the class for the Problem prototype p_problem)
base.masterproblem classname, inherits	(the class for the MasterProblem prototype masterproblem)

Version:

1.0

Author:

Sean Luke

See Also:

Serialized Form

Field Summary

Fields

Modifier and Type	Field and Description
MasterProblem	masterproblem
static String	P_IAMSLAVE
static String	P_MASTERPROBLEM
Problem	p_problem
static String	P_PROBLEM

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor and Description
Evaluator()

Method Summary

Methods

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
void	closeContacts(EvolutionState state, int result) Called to shut down remote evaluation network contacts when the run is completed.
abstract void	evaluatePopulation(EvolutionState state) Evaluates the fitness of an entire population.
void	initializeContacts(EvolutionState state) Called to set up remote evaluation network contacts when the run is started.
void	reinitializeContacts(EvolutionState state) Called to reinitialize remote evaluation network contacts when the run is restarted from checkpoint.
abstract boolean	runComplete(EvolutionState state) Returns true if an ideal individual has been found or some other run result has shortcircuited the run so that it should end prematurely right now.
void	setup(EvolutionState state, Parameter base) Sets up the object by reading it from the parameters stored in state, built off of the parameter base base.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

P_PROBLEM

public static final String P_PROBLEM

See Also:

Constant Field Values

p_problem

public Problem p_problem

masterproblem

public MasterProblem masterproblem

P_MASTERPROBLEM

public static final String P_MASTERPROBLEM

See Also:

Constant Field Values

P_IAMSLAVE

public static final String P_IAMSLAVE

See Also:

Constant Field Values

Constructor Detail

Evaluator

public Evaluator()

Method Detail

evaluatePopulation

public abstract void evaluatePopulation(EvolutionState state)

Evaluates the fitness of an entire population. You will have to determine how to handle multiple threads on your own, as this is a very domain-specific thing.

runComplete

public abstract boolean runComplete(EvolutionState state)

Returns true if an ideal individual has been found or some other run result has shortcircuited the run so that it should end prematurely right now.

setup

public void setup(EvolutionState state,
         Parameter base)

Description copied from interface: Setup

Sets up the object by reading it from the parameters stored in state, built off of the parameter base base. If an ancestor implements this method, be sure to call super.setup(state,base); before you do anything else.

Specified by:

setup in interface Setup

initializeContacts

public void initializeContacts(EvolutionState state)

Called to set up remote evaluation network contacts when the run is started. Mostly used for client/server evaluation (see MasterProblem). By default calls p_problem.initializeContacts(state)

reinitializeContacts

public void reinitializeContacts(EvolutionState state)

Called to reinitialize remote evaluation network contacts when the run is restarted from checkpoint. Mostly used for client/server evaluation (see MasterProblem). By default calls p_problem.reinitializeContacts(state)

closeContacts

public void closeContacts(EvolutionState state,
                 int result)

Called to shut down remote evaluation network contacts when the run is completed. Mostly used for client/server evaluation (see MasterProblem). By default calls p_problem.closeContacts(state,result)