Language

A dictionary and definitions of terms.

• a type is a category of value. Eg. int, text, Point
• a node is any one of the following: terminal node, dummy node, primitive node, ephemeral node
• a parent is that node superior to a specific node in a hierarchy
• a child is a node subordinate to a specific node in a hierarchy
• a root node is the node at the top of a twig or tree hierarchy; it has no parent
• a terminal node is a specific value Eg: 10, 'super', Point(0,0); it has no children
• a dummy node is terminal node holding a value which is presented to an RPB or ADF as input
• a primitive node is a value determined by one, or more, input twigs
• a pset, primitive set, is the set of unique primitives and terminals of which a tree is comprised
• a tree is a hierachy of nodes which are drawn from a specific pset
• a function is the combination of a tree and a pset. eg: an RPB or an ADF
• a twig is a group of one, or more, nodes arranged as a hierarchy
• an RPB, Result Producing Branch, is a function which consumes one, or more, inputs (dummy nodes) and returns a type. The pset of an RPB includes a primitive for every ADF in the individual and a dummy node for every input
• an ADF, Automatically Defined Function, is a function which consumes one, or more, inputs and returns a type. It is created programmatically and invoked by an RPB.
• an individual is a collection of one RPB and zero, or more, ADFs
• a population is a collection of individuals
• mate is the act of copying a twig from a contributor individual to a recipient individual
• mate individual is the individual produced by a mate
• mutate is the act of replacing a twig in a tree with a newly grown twig
• clone is the act of duplicating an individual
• grow is the act of generating a twig from a pset
• probablistic selection is a process of selecting one individual from a population such that the chance of selection of a specific individual is determined by it's score relative to the other individuals in the population.