edu.udo.cs.yale.operator.meta
Class EvolutionaryParameterOptimizationOperator

java.lang.Object
  edu.udo.cs.yale.operator.Operator
      edu.udo.cs.yale.operator.OperatorChain
          edu.udo.cs.yale.operator.meta.ParameterOptimizationOperator
              edu.udo.cs.yale.operator.meta.EvolutionaryParameterOptimizationOperator

All Implemented Interfaces:

ConfigurationListener

public class EvolutionaryParameterOptimizationOperator
extends ParameterOptimizationOperator

This operator finds the optimal values for a set of parameters using an evolutionary strategies approach which is often more appropriate than a grid search or a greedy search like the quadratic programming approach and leads to better results. The parameter parameters is a list of key value pairs where the keys are of the form operator_name.parameter_name and the value must be a colon separated pair of a minimum and a maximum value for each of the parameters, e.g. 10:100 for a range of 10 until 100.
The operator returns an optimal ParameterSet which can as well be written to a file with a ParameterSetWriter. This parameter set can be read in another experiment using a ParameterSetLoader.
The file format of the parameter set file is straightforward and can easily be generated by external applications. Each line is of the form

operator_name.parameter_name = value
Please refer to section Advanced experiments/Parameter and performance analysis for an example application.

Version:

$Id: EvolutionaryParameterOptimizationOperator.java,v 1.3 2006/08/26 13:59:28 ingomierswa Exp $

Author:

Ingo Mierswa

Field Summary

private IOContainer	input This variable holds a reference to the input container which is copied before each evaluation.
private Operator[]	operators The operators for which parameters should be optimized.
private ESOptimization	optimizer The actual optimizer.
private java.lang.String[]	parameters The names of the parameters which should be optimized.
private int[]	types The parameter types.

Constructor Summary

EvolutionaryParameterOptimizationOperator(OperatorDescription description)

Method Summary

IOObject[]	apply() Applies all inner operators.
double	getCurrentBestPerformance()
int	getNumberOfSteps() Returns the number of steps performed by this chain.
java.util.List<ParameterType>	getParameterTypes() Returns a list of ParameterTypes describing the parameters of this operator.
PerformanceVector	setParametersAndEvaluate(Individual individual)

Methods inherited from class edu.udo.cs.yale.operator.meta.ParameterOptimizationOperator

getInnerOperatorCondition, getInputClasses, getMaxNumberOfInnerOperators, getMinNumberOfInnerOperators, getOutputClasses, getPerformance

Methods inherited from class edu.udo.cs.yale.operator.OperatorChain

addAddListener, addOperator, addOperator, checkDeprecations, checkIO, checkNumberOfInnerOperators, checkProperties, clearErrorList, clearStepCounter, cloneOperator, countStep, createExperimentTree, delete, experimentFinished, experimentStarts, getAllInnerOperators, getCurrentStep, getIndexOfOperator, getInnerOperatorForName, getInnerOperatorsXML, getNumberOfAllOperators, getNumberOfChildrensSteps, getNumberOfOperators, getOperator, getOperatorFromAll, getOperators, isEnabled, performAdditionalChecks, removeAddListener, removeOperator, setEnabled, setExperiment, shouldReturnInnerOutput

Methods inherited from class edu.udo.cs.yale.operator.Operator

addError, addValue, addWarning, apply, createExperimentTree, createFromXML, createMarkedExperimentTree, getAddOnlyAdditionalOutput, getApplyCount, getDeliveredOutputClasses, getDeprecationInfo, getDesiredInputClasses, getErrorList, getExperiment, getInput, getInput, getInput, getInputDescription, getIOContainerForInApplyLoopBreakpoint, getName, getOperatorClassName, getOperatorDescription, getParameter, getParameterAsBoolean, getParameterAsColor, getParameterAsDouble, getParameterAsFile, getParameterAsInt, getParameterAsString, getParameterList, getParameters, getParameterType, getParent, getStartTime, getStatus, getUserDescription, getValue, getValues, getXML, hasBreakpoint, hasBreakpoint, hasInput, inApplyLoop, isParameterSet, logMessage, register, remove, rename, resume, setBreakpoint, setInput, setListParameter, setOperatorParameters, setParameter, setParameters, setParent, setUserDescription, toString, writeXML

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

input

private IOContainer input

This variable holds a reference to the input container which is copied before each evaluation.

optimizer

private ESOptimization optimizer

The actual optimizer.

operators

private Operator[] operators

The operators for which parameters should be optimized.

parameters

private java.lang.String[] parameters

The names of the parameters which should be optimized.

types

private int[] types

The parameter types.

Constructor Detail

EvolutionaryParameterOptimizationOperator

public EvolutionaryParameterOptimizationOperator(OperatorDescription description)

Method Detail

getCurrentBestPerformance

public double getCurrentBestPerformance()

Specified by:

getCurrentBestPerformance in class ParameterOptimizationOperator

apply

public IOObject[] apply()
                 throws OperatorException

Description copied from class: OperatorChain

Applies all inner operators. The input to this operator becomes the input of the first inner operator. The latter's output is passed to the second inner operator and so on. Note to subclassers: If subclasses (for example wrappers) want to make use of this method remember to call exactly this method (super.apply()) and do not call super.apply(IOContainer) erroneously which will result in an infinite loop. Subclasses who override this method without invoking super.apply() should at least invoke the method OperatorChain.clearStepCounter().

Overrides:

apply in class OperatorChain

Returns:

the last inner operator's output or the input itself if the chain is empty.

Throws:

OperatorException

setParametersAndEvaluate

public PerformanceVector setParametersAndEvaluate(Individual individual)
                                           throws OperatorException

Throws:

OperatorException

getNumberOfSteps

public int getNumberOfSteps()

Description copied from class: OperatorChain

Returns the number of steps performed by this chain.

Overrides:

getNumberOfSteps in class ParameterOptimizationOperator

getParameterTypes

public java.util.List<ParameterType> getParameterTypes()

Description copied from class: Operator

Returns a list of ParameterTypes describing the parameters of this operator. The default implementation returns an empty list if no input objects can be retained and special parameters for those input objects which can be prevented from being consumed.

Overrides:

getParameterTypes in class ParameterOptimizationOperator