AutoGE: A tool for estimation of grammatical evolution models

AutoGE (Automatic Grammatical Evolution), a new tool for the estimation of Grammatical Evolution (GE) parameters, is designed to aid users of GE. The tool comprises a rich suite of algorithms to assist in fine tuning BNF grammar to make it adaptable across a wide range of problems. It primarily facilitates the identification of optimal grammar structures, the choice of function sets to achieve improved or existing fitness at a lower computational overhead over the existing GE setups. This research work discusses and reports initial results with one of the key algorithms in AutoGE, Production Rule Pruning, which employs a simple frequency-based approach for identifying less worthy productions. It captures the relationship between production rules and function sets involved in the problem domain to identify optimal grammar structures. Preliminary studies on a set of fourteen standard Genetic Programming benchmark problems in the symbolic regression domain show that the algorithm removes less useful terminals and production rules resulting in individuals with shorter genome lengths. The results depict that the proposed algorithm identifies the optimal grammar structure for the symbolic regression problem domain to be arity-based grammar. It also establishes that the proposed algorithm results in enhanced fitness for some of the benchmark problems.