Understanding Grammatical Evolution: Grammar Design

A frequently overlooked consideration when using Grammatical Evolution (GE) is grammar design. This is because there is an infinite number of grammars that can specify the same syntax. There are, however, certain aspects of grammar design that greatly affect the speed of convergence and quality of solutions generated with GE. In this chapter, general guidelines for grammar design are presented. These are domain-independent, and can be used when applying GE to any problem. An extensive analysis of their effect and results across a large set of experiments are reported.