01 /*
02 * Java Genetic Algorithm Library (jenetics-2.0.2).
03 * Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Franz Wilhelmstötter
04 *
05 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
06 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
07 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
08 *
09 * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
10 *
11 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
12 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
13 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
14 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
15 * limitations under the License.
16 *
17 * Author:
18 * Franz Wilhelmstötter (franz.wilhelmstoetter@gmx.at)
19 */
20 package org.jenetics;
21
22 /**
23 * The Alterer is responsible for the changing/recombining the Population.
24 * Alterers can be chained by appending a list of alterers with the
25 * {@link GeneticAlgorithm#setAlterers(Alterer...)} method.
26 *
27 * [code]
28 * final GeneticAlgorithm<DoubleGene, Double> ga = ...
29 * ga.setAlterers(
30 * new Crossover<DoubleGene>(0.1),
31 * new Mutator<DoubleGene>(0.05),
32 * new MeanAlterer<DoubleGene>(0.2)
33 * );
34 * [/code]
35 *
36 * The order of the alterer calls is: Crossover, Mutation and MeanAlterer.
37 *
38 * @param <G> the gene type.
39 *
40 * @author <a href="mailto:franz.wilhelmstoetter@gmx.at">Franz Wilhelmstötter</a>
41 * @since 1.0
42 * @version 2.0 — <em>$Date: 2014-03-30 $</em>
43 */
44 public interface Alterer<G extends Gene<?, G>> {
45
46
47 /**
48 * Alters (recombine) a given population. If the {@code population}
49 * is empty, nothing is altered.
50 *
51 * @param <C> the fitness function result type
52 * @param population The Population to be altered. If the
53 * {@code population} is {@code null} or empty, nothing is altered.
54 * @param generation the date of birth (generation) of the altered phenotypes.
55 * @return the number of genes that has been altered.
56 * @throws NullPointerException if the given {@code population} is
57 * {@code null}.
58 */
59 public <C extends Comparable<? super C>> int alter(
60 final Population<G, C> population,
61 final int generation
62 );
63
64 }
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