HereBoy: a fast evolutionary algorithm

HereBoy is an evolutionary algorithm that combines features from genetic algorithms and simulated annealing, and also adds a new methodology for exploring the search space. It is particularly well suited for exploring large spaces, like those associated with evolvable hardware, although it can be applied to a wide range of search/optimization problems. Experimental data consistently shows that when compared to both genetic algorithms and simulated annealing, HereBoy requires up to 100X fewer iterations than a genetic algorithm and up to 10X fewer iterations than simulated annealing. In some cases HereBoy is able to solve problems to a degree of accuracy that a generic algorithm is unable to achieve. HereBoy also scales from small problems to larger problems significantly better than the other two algorithms.