jcgp.backend.population

Interface MutableElement

All Known Implementing Classes:

Node, Output

public interface MutableElement

MutableElement declares the expected behaviour of any part of a chromosome that is mutable, more specifically nodes or outputs. Inputs are not mutable since they don't have connections or functions.

This interface provides a way to deal with mutable elements generically without having to specify whether they are nodes or outputs. In this way a random mutable element can be picked and dealt with more easily, facilitating mutations.

Author:

Eduardo Pedroni

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
boolean	copyOf(MutableElement element) Asserts if the specified element is a copy of the elements this is called on. This method returns true if and only if: the elements being compared are not the same instance; the connections of the compared elements are not the same instance; the elements have the same function (in the case of Node); the grid position of the elements themselves are the same; the grid position of all equivalent connections are the same; The relationship computed by this method is: symmetric: a.copyOf(b) == b.copyOf(a); not reflexive: a.copyOf(a) returns false; not transitive: if a.copyOf(b) is true and b.copyOf(c) is true, a.copyOf(c) is not necessarily true since it is possible that a == c.
void	setConnection(int index, Connection newConnection) This method sets the indexed connection to the specified new connection.

Method Detail

setConnection

void setConnection(int index,
                   Connection newConnection)

This method sets the indexed connection to the specified new connection. Implementing classes may choose to ignore the given index (such as in the case of outputs, which only have one connection).

Parameters:

index - the connection index to set.

newConnection - the chromosome element to connect to.

copyOf

boolean copyOf(MutableElement element)

Asserts if the specified element is a copy of the elements this is called on.
This method returns true if and only if:

• the elements being compared are not the same instance;
• the connections of the compared elements are not the same instance;
• the elements have the same function (in the case of Node);
• the grid position of the elements themselves are the same;
• the grid position of all equivalent connections are the same;

The relationship computed by this method is:

• symmetric: a.copyOf(b) == b.copyOf(a);
• not reflexive: a.copyOf(a) returns false;
• not transitive: if a.copyOf(b) is true and b.copyOf(c) is true, a.copyOf(c) is not necessarily true since it is possible that a == c.

Parameters:

element - the mutable element to compare to.

Returns:

true if element is a copy of this element.