CMA-ES written in ANSI C in a fairly object-oriented style.
For the general purpose of this software see doc.txt or
here,
for more documentation on this library see docfunctions.txt,
for how to start see below.
- README.md : this file
- LICENSE : users agreement (no worries)
- doc.txt : describes general purpose and an application issue
- docfunctions.txt : Documentation of the library functions.
- cmaes_interface.h : User interface header.
- example_short.c : Very short example source code. The purpose of the example codes is to be edited/extended.
- example_restarts.c : implements additional restarts with increasing population size (Auger & Hansen 2005).
- example_boundary.c : combination with boundary handling (box constraints)
- example_noise.c : (future versions) implements an additional uncertainty handling (Hansen et al 2009).
- cmaes.h : Header, e.g. declaration of struct cmaes_t.
- cmaes.c : Source code.
- cmaes_initials.par : Parameters to be read by the cmaes, e.g. problem dimension, initial search point and initial standard deviation. This file should be edited.
- cmaes_signals.par : File for controlling the running program. Printing or writing to a file/console can be set on/off while the program is running. Regular termination can be forced. On delivery the writing is in accordance with the plotting using:
- plotcmaesdat.m : Plots default output files in Matlab or Octave.
- plotcmaesdat.sci : Plots default output files in Scilab.
- boundary_transformation.c : implements a boundary transformation
- boundary_transformation.h : header file.
- example_*.c: Plug in the objective function (pointer) that should be minimized.
- cmaes_initials.par: Parameter file for changing e.g. initial values and stopping criteria without recompiling.
- cmaes_signals.par: File to control termination and output during runtime.
- actparcmaes.par : Parameters as actually used by the program. The actual parameter setting is appended to the file after each start of the cmaes.
- errcmaes.err : Error messages.
- get code via
git ...or download button
A1) Take five minutes to look at file example_short.c.
A2) You might have a glance at the documentation provided in file
docfunctions.txt.
A3) You might have a glance at cmaes_initials.par, where input parameters
are defined.
B1) Compile and run the example program. Compilation e.g. with
the GNU c-compiler in the src folder:
gcc -Wall -o evo cmaes.c example_short.c -lm
and run with evo or ./evo. Take a look at the output.
B2a) (optional but highly recommended: plotting) Invoke Scilab (freely
available for Linux/Windows/Mac) or Matlab/Octave, change to the
working directory and type (Scilab)
getf('plotcmaesdat.sci'); plotcmaesdat;
or (Matlab/Octave)
plotcmaesdat;
You need to have the file plotcmaesdat.sci or .m and the
output data files in the working directory. You get a nice plot
of the executed run.
The same works with cma.py via
python cma.py plot
B2b) (optional) Change (increase) problem dimension and/or problem number in file initials.par and re-run.
B2c) (optional) Change problem dimension in initials.par to 300 and change output verbosity via file signals.par while the program is running: change e.g. "print fewinfo 200" into "print fewinfo -200" and back. Read comments.
B2d) Change back problem dimension.
-
Now you are ready to inspect and edit
example_restarts.corexample_boundary.cto plug in the function you want to optimize. Refer todoc.txtand see here for a practical issue on objective function design. Refer todocfunctions.txtto find more documentation about the functions in this package. -
Check "obligatory settings" part in
initials.parregarding your function. Make sure that the scale of all objective parameter components of the function is somewhat similar and sigma corresponds to about 1/4 of the respective search intervals. -
output files are overwritten with each program call.
Questions? go here or send an email to hansen at lri dot fr.
See also: