Genetic Algorithm in C++

This online course is for students and software developers who want to level up their skills by learning an interesting optimization algorithm in C++.

You will learn one of the most famous AI algorithms by writing it in C++ from scratch, so we will not use any libraries.

The Genetic Algorithm is the most famous one in a class called metaheuristics or optimization algorithms. You will learn what optimization algorithms are, when to use them, and then you will solve two problems with the Genetic Algorithm(GA).

These problems are: a continuous problem(find the maximum/minimum of a continuous function) and the Travelling Salesperson Problem (TSP), where you have to find the shortest path in a network of cities.

Prerequisites:

• understand basic C++
• any C++ IDE (I am using Visual Studio)
• understanding of algorithms
• understand mathematics

I recommend that you do the examples yourself, instead of passively watching the videos.

Here’s a brief outline of what you will learn:

• What optimization algorithms are
• Genetic Algorithm theory:
  • General structure
  • How crossover is done
  • How mutation is done
• Genetic Algorithm on a continuous problem:
  • Challenges particular to continuous problems: decoding the bits (“chromosomes”) into a float value
  • Crossover: tournament selection and single point crossover
  • Mutation
• Genetic Algorithm on the TSP (Travelling Salesperson Problem):
  • Creating a fitness function for the TSP
  • Challenge particular to this problem: how to do crossover?
  • Mutation

Sign up now and let’s get started!