Genetic algorithms (GAs) are a family of search methods that have been shown to be effective in finding optimal or near-optimal solutions to a wide range of optimization problems. A GA maintains a population of solutions to the problem being solved and uses crossover, mutation, and selection operations to iteratively modify them. As the population evolves across generations, better solutions are created and inferior ones are selectively discarded. GAs usually run for a fixed number of iterations (generations) or until further improvements do not obtain. This contribution discusses the fundamental principles of genetic algorithms and uses Python code to illustrate how GAs can be developed for both numerical and spatial optimization problems. Computational experiments are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of GAs and to illustrate some nuances in GA design.

Genetic algorithms (GAs) are a family of search methods that have been shown to be effective in finding optimal or near-optimal solutions to a wide range of optimization problems. A GA maintains a population of solutions to the problem being solved and uses
crossover, mutation, and selection operations to iteratively modify them. As the population
evolves across generations, better solutions are created and inferior ones are selectively
discarded. GAs usually run for a fixed number of iterations (generations) or until further
improvements do not obtain. This contribution discusses the fundamental principles of
genetic algorithms and uses Python code to illustrate how GAs can be developed for both
numerical and spatial optimization problems. Computational experiments are used to
demonstrate the effectiveness of GAs and to illustrate some nuances in GA design.