Genetic Programming with One-Point Crossover and Point Mutation

In recent theoretical and experimental work on schemata in genetic programming we have proposed a new simpler form of crossover in which the same crossover point is selected in both parent programs. We call this operator one-point crossover because of its similarity with the corresponding operator in genetic algorithms. One point crossover presents very interesting properties from the theory point of view. In this paper we describe this form of crossover as well as a new variant called strict one-point crossover highlighting their useful theoretical and practical features. We also present experimental evidence which shows that one-point crossover compares favourably with standard crossover.