8.1 Introduction

MATLAB ( Matrix Laboratory), a product of Mathworks, is a scientific software package designed to provide integrated numeric computation and graphics visualization in high-level programming language. Dr Cleve Moler, Chief scientist at MathWorks, Inc., originally wrote MATLAB, to provide easy access to matrix software developed in the LINPACK and EISPACK projects. The very first version was written in the late 1970s for use in courses in matrix theory, linear algebra, and numerical analysis. MATLAB is therefore built upon a foundation of sophisticated matrix software, in which the basic data element is a matrix that does not require predimensioning.

MATLAB has a wide variety of functions useful to the genetic algorithm practitioner and those wishing to experiment with the genetic algorithm for the first time. Given the versatility of MATLAB's high-level language, problems can be coded in m-files in a fraction of the time that it would take to create C or Fortran programs for the same purpose. Couple this with MATLAB's advanced data analysis, visualisation tools and special purpose application domain toolboxes and the user is presented with a uniform environment with which to explore the potential of genetic algorithms.

The Genetic Algorithm Toolbox uses MATLAB matrix functions to build a set of versatile tools for implementing a wide range of genetic algorithm methods. The Genetic Algorithm Toolbox is a collection of routines, written mostly in m-files, which implement the most important functions in genetic algorithms.

8.2 Data Structures

MATLAB essentially supports only one data type,...