avida1

Usage

Overview

Avida is an auto-adaptive genetic system designed primarily for use as a platform in Digital or Artificial Life research. The Avida system is based on concepts similar to those employed by the tierra program developed by Tom Ray. In lay terms, Avida is a digital world in which simple computer programs mutate and evolve. More technically, it is a population of self-reproducing strings with a Turing-complete genetic basis subjected to Poisson-random mutations. The population adapts to the combination of an intrinsic fitness landscape (self-reproduction) and an externally imposed (extrinsic) fitness function provided by the researcher.

By studying this system, one can examine evolutionary adaptation, general traits of living systems (such as self-organization), and other issues pertaining to theoretical or evolutionary biology and dynamic systems. The power of Avida is that it gives us a controllable digital system in which to study the theories of evolutionary biology. Often, we can study elements of evolutionary theory that are difficult or impossible in biological systems.

Options

-g[enesis] <filename>

Set genesis file to be <filename>

-h[elp]

Help on options (this listing)

-e[vents]

Print a list of all known events

-s[eed] <value>

Set random seed to <value>

-viewer <value>

Sets Viewer to <value>

-v[ersion]

Prints the version number

-loadpop <filename>

Load a saved population file (precedence over load)

-a[nalyze]

Process analyze.cfg instead of normal run.