Genetic Visualizer

The goal of this tool is to create a visualisation of the optimization process of an evolutionary algorithm. The visualisation should provide some deeper inside in the behaviour of the evolutionary algorithm. Mainly, the consequences of changing certain parameters and operators on the optimization process should be visualized with the help of this tool. Therefore, this tool can be used as a supporting medium in teaching concepts and behaviour of evolutionary algorithms.

Requirements

1. It is necessary to have a JRE installed. You need to have the version 11 or higher. It is recommended to use the latest version found here:

https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/downloads/

3. At least 1 GB of available RAM

Operating systems

This tool should work on all commonly used operating system. This includes Windows 10/11, Linux and macOS.

Windows 10/11

To run the program you simply double-click the executable for the Windows version.

Linux

If you have a graphical interface installed simply double-clicking the executable should start the tool. If the tool does not start, check whether you have permission to execute the program. Simply add the permission to the file, and then it should start: chmod +x GeneticVisualizer-Linux.jar

macOS

If you are running a macOS system you have to build the project yourself. Check the building part of this readme for more information.

Building the project

1. Download the latest version of Maven for your system at: https://maven.apache.org/download.cgi
2. Download the project and unzip it. If you are running a macOS system download the project from the Genetic-Visualizer-macOS-m1 branch of this project
3. Start a terminal and navigate to the directory of the project there the pom.xml is located
4. If maven was properly installed you can run mvn clean install to build the jar executable
5. The new build jar will be located in the folder /Jar with the name: Thesis-1.0-SNAPSHOT-jar-with-dependencies.jar
6. Simply double-click the file to run the program

DEBUG information

If you have access to a terminal e.g. Powershell navigate to the directory of the executables. Executing the program via the terminal shows some additional DEBUG information. Simply use following command to start the program via the terminal: java -jar GeneticVisualizer-<Platform>.jar

Implementation details

Solution space

The solution space is a three-dimensional mathematical function which has to be minimized or maximized. For easier visualization the function is represented as a contour plot. Warm colors represent a high value and cold colors represent a low value in the solution space.

Vector

The vector representation consist of two coordinates x and y.

Binary

The binary representation consist of a 64 bit binary string. The first 32 bits represent the x coordinate and the last 32 bits represent the y coordinate.

License

GNU GPLv3