How should I Test a Genetic Algorithm

Question

I have made a quite few genetic algorithms; they work (they find a reasonable solution quickly). But I have now discovered TDD. Is there a way to write a genetic algorithm (whic

Answer 1

If you're talking TDD, I would say definitely start out by picking a constant number and growing your test suite from there. I've done TDD on a few highly mathematical problems and it helps to have a few constant cases you know and have worked out by hand to run with from the beginning.

W/R/T your 4th point, moving nondeterministic code out of the GA, I think this is probably an approach worth considering. If you can decompose the algorithm and separate the nondeterministic concerns, it should make testing the deterministic parts straightforward. As long as you're careful about how you name things I don't think that you're sacrificing much here. Unless I am misunderstanding you, the GA will still delegate to this code, but it lives somewhere else.

As far as links to very good books on (developer) testing my favorites are:

• Test Driven by Lasse Kosela
• Working Effectively with Legacy Code by Michael Feathers
• XUnit Test Patterns by Gerard Meszaros
• Next Generation Java™ Testing: TestNG and Advanced Concepts by Cédric Beust & Hani Suleiman