WELCOME ABOARD!

CSCI-8940: Spring Semester

With Your Cruise Directors: Don Potter and Ron McClendon

You’ve hit the jackpot! Due to overwhelming success of previous cruises, we are able to provide you with an adventure that is really two cruises in one. We explore the ever-popular yet sometimes mysterious latitudes of Neural Networks and we sail the Genetic Algorithms. First we snorkel the waters of Artificial Intelligence Cove searching for the elusive combinatorial explosion. While Ron is guiding excursions into training and testing alcoves, Don will take you to the waters of Genetic Algorithms (GAs), heuristic search routines that are guided by a model of Darwin's theory of natural selection or The Survival Of The Fittest. On board we have ample facilities to keep everyone fit but, with GAs, the fittest means the most highly ranked solution in a large solution space. Our first landfall in these waters is the Isle of Solution Space. Here our genetic search strategy is to generate solutions that converge on the global maximum (i.e., the best solution in the search space) regardless of the "terrain" of the isle. For you landlubbers, a typical terrain might resemble the Great Smoky Mountains with many peaks and valleys, an area that is relatively flat, and a highest peak.

Then we weigh-anchor for The Greater Basic Operations. Previous "cruisers" have found these to be the best part of the cruise. We bare-foot our way through 1) mate selection (or dating bits), 2) crossover (a treat among "cruisers," it's like getting in each other’s "genes"), and 3) mutation (entertainment by the ninja turtles? wait and see).

The USS UGA is well stocked with the finest in data structures such as binary and integer strings representing the possible solutions. Those interested in survivalist terms will equate a bit string to a member of our crew, and a set of strings evolves for every new generation.

Prepare to cast off on our next voyage now with UGA CRUISES:

WHERE THE FUN NEVER STOPS.