Getting Started

Introduction

EvoAI is a C++17 library to evolve and / or train small Neural Networks.

Building on Windows

We will first build the dependencies and then build a small console app.

we will need to install msys2 follow this tutorial after installing msys2 and installing minGW you will need to add it to the PATH

JsonBox

we will clone JsonBox and then compile and install it.

git clone https://github.com/cristianglezm/JsonBox
cd JsonBox && mkdir build && cd build
cmake -G"MinGW Makefiles" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=./install ..
mingw32-make -j4 install
cd ../..

SFML (Optional)

we will clone SFML and then compile and install it.

git clone https://github.com/SFML/SFML && git checkout 2.6.x
cd SFML && mkdir build && cd build
cmake -G"MinGW Makefiles" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=./install ..
mingw32-make -j4 install
cd ../..

googletest (Optional)

We will clone googletest and then compile and install it.

git clone https://github.com/google/googletest
cd googletest && mkdir build && cd build
cmake -G"MinGW Makefiles" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=./install ..
mingw32-make -j4 install
cd ../..

EvoAI

We will clone EvoAI and then compile and install it, if you don’t want to add the optional dependencies set the EvoAI_BUILD_*=FALSE.

git clone https://github.com/cristianglezm/EvoAI
export SFML_ROOT=SFML/build/install
export JSONBOX_ROOT=JsonBox/build/install
export GTest_ROOT=googletest/build/install
cd EvoAI && mkdir build && cd build
cmake -G"MinGW Makefiles" -DSFML_ROOT=$SFML_ROOT -DJsonBox_ROOT=$JSONBOX_ROOT -DGTest_ROOT=$GTest_ROOT \
-DEvoAI_BUILD_TESTS=TRUE -DEvoAI_BUILD_EXAMPLES=TRUE -DEvoAI_BUILD_DOCS=TRUE -DEvoAI_BUILD_TOOLS=TRUE \
-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=./install ..
mingw32-make -j4 install

ConsoleApp

We will make a folder named ConsoleApp and add the following files.

# CMakeLists.txt
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.27)
project(ConsoleApp)
SET(CMAKE_MODULE_PATH ${CMAKE_MODULE_PATH} "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/modules/")
add_excutable(ConsoleApp main.cpp)
SET(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
SET(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
SET(CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS OFF)
#JsonBox
find_package(JsonBox REQUIRED)
if(JsonBox_FOUND)
    target_include_directories(ConsoleApp PRIVATE ${JsonBox_INCLUDE_DIR})
    target_link_libraries(ConsoleApp PRIVATE ${JsonBox_LIBRARIES})
endif(JsonBox_FOUND)
#EvoAI
find_package(EvoAI 1.0 REQUIRED)
if(EvoAI_FOUND)
    target_include_directories(ConsoleApp PRIVATE ${EvoAI_INCLUDE_DIR})
    target_link_libraries(ConsoleApp PRIVATE ${EvoAI_LIBRARIES})
endif(EvoAI_FOUND)

then we will make the folders cmake/modules and copy FindEvoAI.cmake and findJsonBox.cmake from EvoAI/cmake/modules/ into it.

// main.cpp
#include <EvoAI.hpp>
#include <string>
#include <iostream>

int main(){
    std::string word("hello world!");
    std::cout << "word is " << std::quoted(word) << std::endl;
    constexpr auto numPop = 500u;
    // create a Population of EvoString,
    // the first arg is the max population,
    // the next three are the coefficients and the last is the EvoString constructor argument
    EvoAI::Population<EvoAI::EvoString> pop(numPop,2.0,2.0,1.0, word.size());
    auto correct = 0u;
    auto eval = [&word, &correct](auto& w){
        correct = 0u;
        w.mutate();
        for(auto i=0u;i<word.size();++i){
            if(word[i] == w[i]){
                correct += 1;
            }
        }
        w.setFitness(correct);
    };
    do{
        pop.eval(eval);
        if(correct != word.size()){
            pop.reproduce(EvoAI::SelectionAlgorithms::Tournament<EvoAI::EvoString>{numPop}, true);
            pop.increaseAgeAndRemoveOldSpecies();
            pop.regrowPopulation(2.0, 2.0, 1.0, word.size());
        }
    }while(correct != word.size());
    auto best = pop.getBestMember();
    if(best){
        std::cout << "The best EvoString values are \"";
        for(auto i=0u;i<best->size();++i){
            std::cout << (*best)[i];
        }
        std::cout << "\"" << '\0' << std::endl;
    }
}

then we will make the folder build and use cmake to build and compile the project.

cmake -G"MinGW Makefiles" ..
mingw32-make -j4
./ConsoleApp
// this will print
// word is "hello world!"
// The best EvoString values are "hello world!"