I'm looking for effective means of adding or omitting code in order to help my genetic algorithm program return faster results. The goal of the program is to accept a string and create other strings that match as closely as possible. Whichever newly made strings match the closest(the top 5) mate with others and produces offspring(some of which have mutations that put a new random number into the string without affecting the length). It all works fine, but it takes an unfathomable amount of generations to get some of the longer strings(4 and up) to perfectly match. Sorry about the tl;dr length, but here's my current code. Criticize away!
#include "stdio.h"
#include "fstream"
#include "ctime"
#include "iostream"
#include "string"
#include "windows.h"
#define CHARACTERS 16
#define STRINGS 100
/*
Enter String(max 16 chars)
Generate 100 words of the same length
Check for Fitness(how close each word is to the string)
Every generation: display top 5
Clone the top 5
Top 20 reproduce(mix each other's chars)
1/1000 chance the children might mutate(each newly mixed string or char might have a completely random number)
*/
typedef struct _stringHolder
{
char randString[CHARACTERS];
int fitness;
}StringHolder;
//Randomly generate 100 words
void generate(char *myString, StringHolder *SH)
{
unsigned seed = time(0);
srand(seed);
//int i = 0;
int j = 0;
char randChar;
//char showString[CHARACTERS];
for(int i=0; i<STRINGS; i++)
{
for(int j=0; j<strlen(myString); j++)
{
randChar = ('a' + (rand() %26));
SH[i].randString[j] = randChar;
}
//limiter so that it doesn't crash
SH[i].randString[strlen(myString)] = 0;
}
}
//Check the similarity of the random strings to the original string.
void getFitness(char *myString, StringHolder *SH)
{
for(int i=0; i<STRINGS; i++)
{
for(int j=0; j<strlen(myString); j++)
{
if(SH[i].randString[j] == myString[j])
{ SH[i].fitness++; }
}
}
}
//Sort the strings
void sortByFitness(char *myString, StringHolder *SH)
{
bool swapped = 1;
while(swapped)
{
swapped = 0;
for(int a=0; a<STRINGS-1; a++)
{
if(SH[a].fitness < SH[a+1].fitness)
{
swapped = 1;
StringHolder temp[STRINGS];
temp[a] = SH[a+1]/*.randString[i]*/;
SH[a+1]/*.randString[i]*/ = SH[a]/*.randString[i]*/;
SH[a]/*.randString[i]*/ = temp[a];
/*if(SH[a].fitness < SH[a+1].fitness)
{ swapped = 0; }*/
}
}
}//while
}
//Clone the Top 5 strings
void cloneTopFive(char *myString, StringHolder *SH, StringHolder *cloneString)
{
for(int i=0; i<5; i++)
{
cloneString[i]/*.randString[j]*/ = SH[i]/*.randString[j]*/;
//printf("cloneString[%d] now holds %s.\n", i, SH[i].randString);
}
}
//Reproduce the Top 20 strings by mixing and matching elements between strings
void reproduceTopTwenty(char *myString, StringHolder *SH /*char *cloneString*/)
{
/*for(int h=5; h<95; h++)
{*/
for(int i=0; i<20; i++)
{
for(int j=0; j<strlen(myString)-1; j++)
{
//char temp[16];
//temp[i] =
SH[i].randString[j] = SH[1 + (rand() %20)].randString[1 + (rand() %strlen(myString)-1)];
int randomNumber;
randomNumber = (1 +(rand() %100));
if(randomNumber == 7)
{
SH[i].randString[1 + (rand() %strlen(myString)-1)] = ('a' + (rand() %26));
}
}
}
}
//Randomize the other 75 numbers and place the cloned Top 5 at the end of the String Holder(SH)
void randomizeOther75(char *myString, StringHolder *SH, StringHolder *cloneString)
{
for(int i=20; i<STRINGS; i++)
{
for(int j=0; j<strlen(myString); j++)
{
SH[i].randString[j] = ('a' + (rand() %26));
}
}
for(int i=0; i<5; i++)
{
for(int j=0; j<strlen(myString); j++)
{
int v = i + 94;
SH[v].randString[j] = cloneString[i].randString[j];
}
}
}
void printGen(char *myString, StringHolder *SH)
{
for(int i=0; i<5; i++)
{
if(SH[i].fitness == strlen(myString))
{ printf("%s has %d fitness. Perfection!\n", SH[i].randString, SH[i].fitness); }
else
printf("%s has %d fitness.\n", SH[i].randString, SH[i].fitness);
}
}
void main()
{
char myString[CHARACTERS];
StringHolder cloneString[5];
StringHolder SH[STRINGS];
for(int i=0; i<STRINGS; i++)
{ SH[i].fitness = 0; }
printf("Enter your name(no whitespaces): ");
scanf("%s", myString);
/*while(strlen(myString) >= CHARACTERS)
{
printf("Please type a string with less than 16 characters\n");
scanf("%s", myString);
}*/
//printf("%s\n", myString);
//first generation
generate(myString, SH);
int gen = 0;
while(1)
{
char x = ' ';
/* printf("Insert something. Anything!");
scanf(&x);*/
/*char newString[CHARACTERS];
for(int i=0; i<5; i++)
{
for( int j=0; j< strlen(myString); j++)
{
newString[j] = SH[i].randString[j];
}
newString[strlen(myString)] = 0;
printf("%s has %d fitness.\n", newString, SH[i].fitness);
}*/
printf("\n");
while(x==' ')
{
printf("Generation %d: \n", gen);
getFitness(myString, SH);
sortByFitness(myString, SH);
printGen(myString, SH);
for(int i=0; i<STRINGS; i++)
{ SH[i].fitness = 0; }
cloneTopFive(myString, SH, cloneString);
reproduceTopTwenty(myString, SH);
randomizeOther75(myString, SH, cloneString);
/*getFitness(myString, SH);
sortByFitness(myString, SH);
for(int i=0; i<5; i++)
{
printf("%s has %d fitness.\n", SH[i].randString, SH[i].fitness);
}
printf("\n");*/
//printf("\nInsert ' ' to continue!\n");
//scanf("%c",&x);
gen++;
}
}
